The Loyalty NewswireMarch 24, 2025

Global News Roundup from The Wise Marketer

From the Editor

In the past week’s news (and stories released today), we find ourselves with a really interesting mix of coverage as we see loyalty programs innovating, others celebrating, a few more mixing their membership benefits up, and some leaving us simply questioning. I’ll leave it to each of you to self-sort the articles that follow into those four columns!

For those of you who subscribe to our weekly newsletter or who have registered as a Wiser Marketer, then you have already seen our spring conference partner line-up. But for everyone else, I’ve tucked it to the tail of this week’s Newswire in case you’re interested in checking out where we’ll be this Spring.

Enjoy the last week of March, everyone!

Stay. Loyal. Always.

Chief Marketing Officer, Wise Marketer Group

Global News Roundup

Accor’s ALL Reaches 100 Million Members Worldwide in 5 Years

Loyalty and rewards programs come in all shapes and sizes and there are certain size-based milestones that only a few brands can boast.

Hospitality group Accor has announced that its loyalty and reward program, ALL, now has grown to 100 million members globally since it was launched in 2019. ALL has focused on experiences to position itself as more than a traditional rewards program that connects hotels, experiences and entertainment for its members. Read more here.

Ryanair Launches New Subscription Service for Frequent Flyers

Bloomberg (behind a paywall) and the Irish Examiner reported that airline Ryanair has launched an Amazon Prime-like subscription service to offer discounts to frequent flyers with the budget airline, which is aptly named “Prime”. The subscription costs €79 per year, giving members reserved seating at no additional cost, travel insurance, and access to monthly member-exclusive seat sales.

This new subscription service has been limited to the first 250,000 members, which if sold out, would generate near to €19.75 per year for the airline. Read more (for free) here.

ACCC Report Reveals Supermarket Loyalty Programs May Mislead Shoppers

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a new report on the impact to consumers of loyalty programs that are operated by Australian grocery retailers such as Coles and Woolworths.

A key finding of the report is that despite the increasing participation in supermarket loyalty programs, “many consumers are left to make judgments of whether they are getting a good deal overall based on impressions or perceptions rather than clear and useful information.” The report recommends that these two leading supermarkets provide more transparency and simpler disclosure language (i.e. simple, plain-English”) for how their loyalty programs operate and the benefits to consumers.

Learn more here.

Loyalty Program: United Airlines Chops Elite Benefit for Top Flyers

The New Your Post writes a less-than-favorable review on United Airlines’ latest announcement to reduce a key benefit once offered to top frequent flyer members in its loyalty program. The airline announced in an email to members of its top loyalty tier, Premier 1K, that the Clear Plus membership perk would no longer be free as of May 1^st, 2025.

Membership in Clear Plus enables individuals to bypass check-in lines and avoid showing physical identification for a cost of $199. Only United Global Services members will receive a free Clear membership as United Premier 1K members will now receive a $70 discount to the membership fee instead for an annual fee of $129 per year. Read the article here.

Credit Card Program: United Airlines Makes Changes to its Credit Card Offerings

More news from United Airlines as U.S. Sun writes about the airlines announcement to raise the annual fees for its credit cards and yearly lounge membership. The changes summarized are:

Two membership tiers to United Club airport lounge network: individual membership for $750 or 94,000 miles per year to access United Clubs or $1,400 or 175,000 miles per year to access United Clubs and Star Alliance lounges; and
United Explorer card is now $150 (was $95) with a $60 rideshare credit; United Quest card is now $350 (was $250) with $100 rideshare credit along with upgrades and $200 in United travel credits; and United Club Infinite Card is now $695 (was $525) with annual lounge membership and $150 rideshare credits.

United is offering some perks to offset these changes in conjunction with co-branded credit card issuer JPMorgan Chase, such as sign-up bonuses, rideshare credits, etc. Read the article here.

A Fresh Look at The Wiser Marketer Spring Conference Partner Line Up

Spring is here (for those in the northern hemisphere, at least), and what better time to get prepared for a flash of networking and learning over the next three months?

There are many conferences to attend throughout the entire year, but here is a short list of those that we partner with:

April 8^th in Amsterdam – European Loyalty Associati o n HUB Event. Join today here.
May 13-14^th in Dubai – Loyalty Connect Dubai 2025. Use offer: TWMLCG to save £50. Register here. (watch next week’s news when we announce a special Loyalty Academy™ related offer)
May 15^th in Dubai –International Loyalty Awards 2025. Public voting can be done here.
June 4-6^th in Chicago – CRMC 2025 is Mastering the Balance. Register here.
June 4-5^th in London – Loyalty Summit. Register here.
June 19^th in Berlin – European Loyalty Association HUB Event. Join today here.

Finally, while it’s not a conference, the next opportunity that the Loyalty Academy™ has on deck to earn your Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ (CLMP™) designation at an in-person public workshop is:

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