USA: Curated journey rewards platform Journey has launched, permitting travellers to earn and redeem factors throughout a curated community of motels and brief time period leases.
The community is described as an “unique alliance” of particular person and personal properties, representing a handpicked collection of high-end properties internationally.
Claiming to be the primary rewards programme tailor-made particularly to personal leases and boutique motels, Journey Rewards members [travellers] earn at the very least 5 factors per greenback on each eligible keep booked instantly with the property, in comparison with at the very least one level per greenback for bookings through third-party OTAs.
The platform additionally supplies operators with AI advertising and marketing instruments to personalise the visitor expertise, optimise low season intervals, appeal to repeat visitors and compete with the biggest worldwide chains.
Members will be capable of switch factors between one another or mix them with buddies and/or household to ebook an Alliance member property, whereas they will additionally earn smaller rewards too if they want.
Wanting forward, Journey plans to ascertain a “guild” of “influencers” – or frequent travellers – who will contribute evaluations for the platform and nominate stays for future inclusion on the location. In the meantime, travellers can earn factors for offering suggestions on stays, in addition to “favouriting” properties.
Journey’s management staff and buyers embody:
• John Sutton, founder and CEO: Beforehand holding quite a lot of roles at media firm Pink Ventures [the parent company of The Points Guy], together with chief digital officer, Sutton will likely be accountable for setting and executing Journey’s strategic imaginative and prescient as CEO, whereas hiring new expertise.
• Brian Kelly, senior adviser and investor: Kelly based The Factors Man in 2010 and constructed it into a number one journey media empire. In 2017, The Factors Man was acquired by Pink Ventures, the place Sutton and Kelly first related.
• James McBride, Alliance ambassador and senior adviser: At Journey, McBride will draw on a long time of management to help unbiased journey, serving to operators thrive in a aggressive market whereas sustaining their distinctive identification.
• Eric Wu, senior adviser and investor: Wu was CEO and co-founder of Opendoor, an e-commerce platform for residential actual property. His expertise constructing progressive, scalable companies will help in driving Journey’s future progress.
• Chris Burch, senior adviser and investor: Because the co-founder of Tory Burch and the proprietor of Nihi Sumba Resorts, Burch will convey a wealth of information in luxurious, journey and hospitality, offering perception into crafting world-class visitor experiences.
The launch additionally contains Journey’s acquisition of short-term rental journey offers web site StayWatch [formerly known as Sponstayneous]. Talking on LinkedIn, StayWatch co-founder and CEO, Zach Busekrus, mentioned that he was “thrilled” to hitch as head of the Journey Alliance, whereas including that he would “assist discover the world’s finest independently owned stays and companion with the hospitality entrepreneurs behind them to reimagine loyalty for the following era of travellers”.
Kelly mentioned: “Greater than ever, loyalty is essential to customers. Travellers wish to earn and redeem factors for all times altering experiences. Whether or not that’s a safari or a non-public trip rental, most of the finest lodging choices don’t exist throughout the present loyalty panorama.
“That’s the place Journey is available in — a game-changing platform that rewards travellers for staying at properties that they historically haven’t been in a position to earn factors for. With Journey, travellers will not must sacrifice loyalty when in search of bespoke and boutique journey experiences,” he added.
Sutton mentioned: “Travellers as we speak face an awesome quantity of selection. Our curated assortment of outstanding, unbiased stays showcases a handpicked collection of one of the best lodging throughout the globe.
“By designing a platform from the bottom up, we introduce travellers to inspiring, off-the-radar properties whereas rewarding them for supporting unbiased operators.
“Journey is about creating an ecosystem the place unbiased operators can thrive with out compromising their identification or income. For a lot too lengthy, loyalty programmes have made cash for the loyalty programme and never for the lodge or trip rental. We don’t suppose it must be that method,” he added.
By the point Journey’s iOS and Android apps launch formally in spring subsequent 12 months, the platform is anticipated to have 2,000 personal dwelling leases and 200 boutique motels inside its ‘Journey Alliance’. Motels together with Nihi on Sumba Island in Indonesia and Daybreak Ranch in Sonoma, California, in addition to Onera treehouses and Dunton Locations resorts and houses, will likely be included on the Journey platform from the beginning.
Chatting with Bloomberg, Sutton mentioned that Journey was seeking to introduce a brand new bank card for frequent travellers and convey in additional profitable income. The product might ultimately compete with different bank card and fintech choices introduced out by JPMorgan Chase & Co., American Categorical and Capital One, whereas Expedia Group is launching two co-branded bank cards with Wells Fargo and Mastercard to enrich its One Key loyalty programme, which debuted final 12 months.
