Loyalty in Flux: Rethinking Retention in a Fragmented Travel Landscape

As consumer behavior fragments across devices, platforms and new technologies, the old rules of loyalty no longer apply. The rise of AI, influencer-led travel discovery, and one-click booking apps has created a highly fluid ecosystem. One where travelers jump from Google to Instagram to ChatGPT to a credit card portal before finally booking.

Our Global Travel & Hospitality 2025 Outlook captures this seismic shift: loyalty is no longer earned with points alone. Instead, brands must design experiences that forge emotional bonds, offer real-time value and operate seamlessly across multiple digital environments.

A landscape redefined by fragmentation

Travel planning today rarely follows a linear path. A traveler might be inspired by a TikTok reel, research via ChatGPT, compare reviews on TripAdvisor and finally book through a credit card’s travel portal. Never once touching a brand’s own website.

According to our outlook:

• Google’s share of U.S. search ad market is projected to fall below 50% in 2025.
• 47% of experience bookings still happen offline, underscoring a lag in digital maturity.
• Mobile dominates, with two-thirds of travel web traffic now coming from mobile devices.

This fractured journey means brands can no longer assume travelers will stick with them from discovery to booking to re-engagement. The path is too fragmented and attention is too divided.

Loyalty is losing its stickiness

Even when travelers do engage with loyalty programs, the connection is increasingly superficial.

• BCG reports the average U.S. consumer is enrolled in more than 15 loyalty programs, up 10% from 2022.
• Trivago found that 71% of travelers compare prices across multiple sites before booking.
• Forbes warns of a looming “midlife crisis” for loyalty programs, as consumers grow disenchanted with point-based systems that feel impersonal or inflexible.

Younger travelers especially are less responsive to traditional loyalty mechanisms. For Gen Z, loyalty is earned through shared values, convenience and digital ease — not just tier upgrades.insights that will define the future of hospitality and travel.

New loyalty models: moving beyond points

Some travel brands are responding with creativity and bold shifts:

• Mandarin Oriental: Fans of M.O.

This loyalty program skips the points and instead offers members experiential rewards: flexible privileges, access to culinary events and real-time recognition for direct bookings. The more often you engage, the more personal and exclusive your stay becomes.

• OneAir: AI-powered lifetime loyalty

OneAir is a subscription-based travel platform offering deep discounts on luxury bookings. Members pay once and get lifetime access to exclusive rates. This upfront investment creates immediate buy-in and long-term loyalty that’s tied to perceived value, not points.

• Marriott and easyJet: one-stop travel ecosystems

To reduce friction and fragmentation, these brands are building comprehensive booking platforms. Vacations by Marriott Bonvoy and easyJet Holidays let travelers combine flights, hotels and car rentals offering convenience that nudges repeat usage.

Key takeaways for travel brands

Loyalty is no longer about who has the flashiest perks. It's about removing friction, creating relevance and building trust across multiple moments in the traveler journey.

Four strategic principles to guide the next generation of loyalty design:

1. Think beyond transactions
   Instead of focusing purely on spend or frequency, consider how to reward behaviors that build brand affinity like sharing feedback, creating content or exploring new services.
   
   
2. Design for micro-loyalty moments
   Not every guest will become a lifelong customer. But every touchpoint — a helpful chatbot, a seamless mobile check-in, a personalized itinerary — is a chance to build temporary loyalty that can grow over time.
   
   
3. Enable omnichannel continuity
   Make it easy for travelers to pick up where they left off. Whether they start their journey on social media, switch to mobile or finalize on desktop. Use persistent profiles, saved preferences and AI recommendations to streamline the experience.
   
   
4. Rethink Value
   Points are fine but emotional loyalty comes from shared purpose. Sustainability, wellness, cultural immersion and community are increasingly drivers of preference. Build loyalty programs around these values, not just transactional incentives.

The role of AI and personalization

AI is not just reshaping search, it’s also redefining loyalty. With platforms like ChatGPT playing a growing role in travel inspiration and planning, there’s a huge opportunity to design experiences that feel intelligent and intuitive.

Imagine a loyalty platform that:

• Proactively suggests trips based on your mood, season or lifestyle changes.
  
  
• Remembers your past travel companions or favorite local cafés.
  
  
• Sends curated itineraries or dining reservations before you even land.

This is the future of loyalty: anticipatory, not reactive.

Loyalty as an experience, not a program

In 2025, loyalty is no longer a separate system. It’s embedded into the experience itself. It’s the way a brand remembers your name, recommends the perfect add-on or surprises you with an upgrade not because you hit a points threshold but because it sensed you needed it.

For travel and hospitality brands, the challenge isn’t just keeping up with a fragmented landscape. It’s about standing out within it by building emotional relevance that transcends platforms and persists beyond the booking.

The era of loyalty 2.0 is here. And it starts with putting the traveler, not the program, at the center of the relationship.

Download our Global Travel & Hospitality 2025 Outlook to uncover the key consumer