The Loyalty Newswire October 21, 2025

The Loyalty Newswire from The Wise Marketer

From the Editor

We are approaching the giving season in the West, and yesterday was Diwali, the “Festival of Lights,” a five-day festival celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs that symbolizes the victory of light over darkness and good over evil.

Customer Loyalty is an industry that keeps on giving in its own way as the news is relentless, interesting, and timely.

This week, we report on a new subscription loyalty program from Wyndham Hotels, the announcement of family-friendly features from JetBlue, and Starbucks testing a “new” loyalty feature, of all things, a punch card.

Lots of events are coming your way:

CRMC Webinar “Anonymous Shoppers: Goldmine or Blind Spot” coming on November 6, featuring RONA and sponsored by Exchange Solutions.
Wise Marketer Group Fall Advisory Meeting, November 13, Nashville, TN, sponsored by Exchange Solutions and ebbo.
Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP™) workshop, hosted by our UAE Partners, QBF Consulting, November 18 – 20, 2025, at the Rove Downtown Hotel.

If you have any questions or would like more details, please feel free to reach out.

We are here to help you succeed. Let us know how we can help.

Bill Hanifin, Managing Editor, The Wise Marketer

Short Takes

Wise Marketer Group Fall Advisory Meeting set for November 13, Nashville TN

This half-day Wiser Forums™ event presents findings from a 2025 consumer research study, the inflection point in a longitudinal study exploring the connection between brand loyalty, customer experience and programmatic loyalty. Apply for registration here.

This powerful, by invitation event is a unique opportunity for business leaders, marketers and decision-makers who seek a better understanding of how consumers think about their loyalty to brands. This is an opportunity for retail business leaders that want to create impactful and insights-led engagement and experiences for their customers. The agenda is centered on the opinions of American consumers on customer loyalty programs and related experiences with retail brands. Request to attend here.

Co-Brand & Travel Rewards 2025 is NEXT WEEK in NYC – 28-29 October 2025

The Co-Brand and Travel Rewards event, presented by AI Connect, is a one stop shop, whether you are a loyalty program, an issuer or one of the many other players in a complex ecosystem, to connect with top presenters and industry peers. Register here.

Ian Young, Head of Loyalty Account Management, Comarch, is this year’s conference chair and Wise Marketer Managing Editor Bill Hanifin will be delivering the opening keynote, “State of the Union Address: Where are Co-Brands and Travel Reward Cards Heading to?” Join us in New York for this great travel loyalty event!

JetBlue TrueBlue Mosaic® Benefits to Grow in 2026

JetBlue Airways has unveiled a series of significant updates to its TrueBlue Mosaic loyalty program, introducing new family sharing features, extended benefits, and heightened rewards for its top-tier members beginning in 2026. The changes are the latest in a string of moves by the airline to broaden its appeal and reinforce loyalty among frequent travelers.

You can read all the benefits in this press release, but the introduction of features like Family Tiles—the first such initiative by a U.S. airline—is said to reflect JetBlue’s effort to address the evolving needs of traveling families, while enhanced bonus points for upper Mosaic tiers further incentivize direct bookings and premium engagement.

Breeze Airways Enhances BreezePoints Rewards Program

Breeze Airways is planning a major revamp of its rewards program in the new year. The changes, announced Tuesday, will see the airline introduce elite status tiers for the first time. Breezy Rewards will offer a variety of perks for status holders, including things like priority boarding, free Wi-Fi and even upgrades.

The current Breezy Rewards program, which earns Breeze points worth 1 cent each, will remain in place, with members earning between 1 and 5 points per dollar spent on flights and add-ons, depending on which type of fare is purchased.

New CRMC Webinar: Anonymous Shoppers: Goldmine or Blind Spot?

Anonymous shoppers are one of retail’s largest untapped opportunities, yet most brands struggle to engage them. Join us on November 6, 2025, 1pm ET for this discussion moderated by The Wise Marketer with Marie-Helene Cusson, Senior Director, Digital Merchandising & Analytics at RONA. Marie-Helene will share how RONA turned unknown browsers into loyal, high-value buyers with a simple, personalized, in-session approach.

RONA is a leading Canadian retailer of home improvement and construction products and services, owned by U.S.-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners. This webinar is part of the ongoing CRMC Webinar series and is sponsored by Exchange Solutions. Register here.

Wyndham Debuts First-of-its-Kind Travel Subscription with Day-One Payoffs

Wyndham Rewards®, the #1–rated hotel rewards program known for its groundbreaking simplicity and generosity, is redefining what a loyalty program can offer with the launch of Wyndham Rewards Insider℠—a first-of-its-kind travel and entertainment subscription from a major hotel rewards program, designed to pay for itself in as little as one trip.

For $95 a year, Wyndham Rewards members can now unlock perks like automatic Gold level status, concierge services and the ability to double-dip on points with select partners, all while saving on hotels, flights, car rentals, cruises and more. Backed by a powerhouse roster of partners, including an all-new collaboration with Ticketmaster, Insider brings added value to everything from weekend getaways and Caribbean cruises to live concerts on the world’s biggest stages.

Starbucks Quietly Testing a New Loyalty Feature – a Punch Card?

Starbucks is experimenting with a new rewards program that may be familiar to anyone who has accumulated punch cards from their local coffee shop over the years. The coffee giant is quietly evaluating a new “buy nine coffees, get one free” rewards perk for select loyalty members.

Starbucks emailed some Rewards members about the program, called Coffee Loop, presenting it as a time-sensitive pilot that is only available to select Starbucks Rewards members in the U.S., per emails and other communications reviewed by Modern Retail. Space in Coffee Loop is “limited,” according to Starbucks, which called the program a “test” that “could end at any time.”

Sprouts Farmers Market Extends Its Rewards Program To L.A.

Sprouts Farmers Market has rolled out its inaugural customer rewards program to the Los Angeles area, as KTLA5 reports. With Sprouts Rewards, members can earn points on purchases, enjoy personalized discounts and perks, and access exclusive offers tailored to their shopping habits. The program is accessible through the Sprouts app.

Sprouts Farmers Market CEO Jack Sinclair said in July that the company plans to make the loyalty program available across all stores by the end of October. At that time, the program was active in 75 locations.

Bilt Expands Its Ecosystem to Include Delivery Powered by Gopuff

BILT announced that it is transforming how properties and neighborhood merchants build loyalty with the launch of Bilt Home Delivery Powered by Gopuff, now live for Bilt Members across the U.S. In the press release, BILT says the new service is “connecting where you live with the places you love through one unified loyalty ecosystem.”

Bilt Home Delivery turns loyalty into something residents can actually touch. Whether it’s welcoming someone to their new building or thanking them for dining out, every part of the neighborhood can now show up for residents in meaningful ways. It’s all built right into the Bilt platform, using aggregated member insights to help property managers and merchant partners offer more relevant experiences.

Vietjet Wins Title of “Asia’s Leading Airline – Customer Experience 2025”

Vietjet has once again reaffirmed its position as Asia’s leading new-age carrier, taking home the title of “Asia’s Leading Airline – Customer Experience 2025” at the prestigious World Travel Awards (WTA) ceremony held in Hong Kong (China).

This year’s event gathered global leaders and experts from the aviation, tourism, and hospitality sectors to celebrate excellence in travel. Widely regarded as one of the world’s most respected honors in the industry, the World Travel Awards recognize outstanding achievements through votes cast by industry professionals and travellers worldwide.

The Wise Marketer Strategy Brief Series: The New Loyalty Playbook – Chapter Two

This Wise Marketer Strategy Brief (WMSB) was created in cooperation with ebbo and is titled “The New Loyalty Playbook.” This eBook reveals how brands can master today’s loyalty fundamentals: bridging emotional loyalty, value-based offerings, enhanced realities, and the all-important choice factor.

If your ultimate goal is to embed customer engagement within a habit loop that repeatedly delivers satisfaction, “The New Loyalty Playbook” will help build a robust framework for lasting growth and impactful results. Download it here.

New Strategy Brief: Solving the Loyalty Marketing Attribution Riddle

In the latest of our Wise Marketer Strategy Brief series, From Vision to Reality – How Loyalty Data Powers the AI Marketing Revolution, explores how loyalty programs can be the ultimate drivers to transform competitive advantages into salient returns and evolve into an enterprise-wide asset.

Our valued thought partner in the creation of this eBook is Kobie – the perfect fit for The Wise Marketer to address this heady topic. Here are some excerpts that will make you want to download this resource as fast as possible:

“In many organizations, loyalty programs still live in a shadow. This shadow is called the “cost center.” And it can blind even the best of intentions.”
“Attribution is often the Achilles’ heel of loyalty marketing.”
“AI turns loyalty from a fabled story into a verifiable dataset – one that improves with every swipe, click, or scan.”

Why 30 Million US Consumers No Longer Search

The future is here, and people no longer want to search for information. They want outcomes. Information that’s curated, relevant, contextual and decision ready. That shift, powered by what Karen Webster calls the Prompt Economy™, is changing how people think, learn, shop, buy.

In this forward-looking article, Karen outlines how in the Prompt Economy, no one wants to sift through endless links. The value now lies in how precisely we can describe a problem and the milliseconds it takes to get a smart response. A good prompt delivers intelligence, not just lots of information. And once people experience that difference, the old way feels slow, friction-laden, and unnecessary.

Do The Machines Have Feelings?

In a bold move, OpenAI is set to introduce age-gated erotica features for ChatGPT users, starting October 15, 2025. CEO Sam Altman addresses the heated debate surrounding this decision, highlighting the balance between adult content freedom and ensuring safety measures.

This rollout marks a significant shift in AI content policy, sparking discussions about content moderation, legal responsibilities, and user expectations in the digital age. This development is seen as a pivotal moment in AI content moderation, reflecting both the challenges and opportunities of managing mature themes in artificial intelligence systems.

Jobs in Loyalty

There are many talented people looking for full-time and contract positions in loyalty marketing. Fortunately, there are opportunities available from both brands and providers. We list a sampling of what we are aware of here.

Please click through the links if provided or contact us here to learn more and apply for these positions.

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