Placing in the top four are Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards, IHG Priority Club Rewards and Hyatt Gold Passport.
“Just want to say thank you to all of our members!”
Starwood Preferred Guest has long been known for going the extra mile for their members and has pioneered interacting with them in social media. So members had a lot of good experiences fresh in their mind when it came time to vote.
To all of the individuals who made this evening possible, thanks!
Ed Pizzarello, Brian Kelly, Matt Daimler, House of Miles staff: Karen, Janet, Mikel, Lynda, Darcie, Michelle, Denny. A lot of work goes into this, thanks everyone!
Robert Wuhl takes the stage again and gives the crowd a sports update. The Rangers won two to one and in the NFL draft, the Jets took Neil Patrick Harris, jokes Wuhl.
Someone here is about to win a cool prize, he says. Under one of the bread plates is a Thanks Again sticker. The winner with that plate wins 25,000 miles! Andrea Shey from Swift Exchange is the lucky winner. Congrats Andrea!
And next, a short video from Google travel is shown.
The top four finishers in this category are TAM Fidelidade, American AAdvantage, Delta SkyMiles and Southwest Rapid Rewards.
Manoela Amaro, Marketing Director, TAM Airlines accepts the Freddie.
TAM Fidelidade wins in this category with an impressive value score of 9.57—the highest value score of any Freddie Award category. With a number like that, it looks like members are not finding too much difficulty getting the awards they want when they’re ready to spend their miles. Members report they are most happy with the easy and good value award redemptions within South America.
The top four finishers in this category are Etihad Guest, Jet Airways JetPrivilege, Gulf Air Falconflyer and Virgin Australia Velocity.
Accepting the award for Etihad Guest is Barry Green, Vice President CRM & Loyalty.
Etihad Guest pioneered the “one mile” strategy for award redemption with its online slider tool and with this win, that flexibility of choosing your award amounts by combining cash and miles looks to be popular with members.
The top four finishers in this category are airBaltic BalticMiles, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, Lufthansa Miles & More and British Airways Executive Club.
Gabi Kool, CEO, accepts the award for airBaltic BalticMiles.
airBaltic BalticMiles is doing something right. Less than three years after splitting off from SAS EuroBonus, the program is a hit with members and it shows with this win for Best Redemption Ability with an impressive 9.14 value vote.
Receiving the highest marks from members for best redemption ability are Marriott Rewards, Choice Privileges, Starwood Preferred Guest and Wyndham Rewards.
A round of applause from the crowd. Marc Sheinkin, Senior Manager – Marriott Rewards Email Marketing, accepts the award. “Thank you very much, appreciate it!”
Marriott Rewards wins in this all-important category. Marriott has plenty of properties, in locations where their members want to stay, and they’ve made real strides over the past few years in making the bulk of their rooms available for points. Not an easy task and members have taken notice.
Placing in the top four are Taj InnerCircle, Starwood Preferred Guest, Accor A|Club and IHG Priority Club Rewards.
Jodi Leblanc, Vice President-Sales and Marketing International, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces accepts the award, “Thank you on behalf of Taj Mahal!”
Taj offers outstanding hotels that members want to redeem their points for and a simple, straightforward value proposition making the program a favorite in the region. When the full name of the hotel group is Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces you know there are some aspirational offerings. Members can choose to redeem with points, or a points plus cash option, for hotel stays if you just can’t wait to earn enough points to stay at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, for example.
Freddie Laker Jr. steps up on stage to present the next category. Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards, IHG Priority Club Rewards and Accor A|Club finish at the top in this category.
“They haven’t been up here tonight, have they?” jokes Freddie Laker Jr.
“Thank you so much. We are so thrilled to re
ceive this Freddie Award,” says Gretchen Kloke, VP Global Loyalty Marketing SPG, as she accepts the award.
Starwood pioneered making all standard rooms available for points, and other hotel programs have followed their lead. With this Freddie Award, SPG is being rewarded for changing the industry standard and making it much easier to get room nights with SPG points.
The top four finishers in this category are Delta SkyMiles, American AAdvantage, Air Canada Aeroplan and Southwest Rapid Rewards.
Kevin Pinto, Manager – SkyMiles Promotions accepts the Freddie. He thanks the SkyMiles members.
Delta SkyMiles Travel in Style for Half the Miles Promotion offered members the opportunity to redeem an international mileage upgrade award at a 50 percent mileage discount when purchasing economy class Y, B or M fares. The most cherished word for frequent flyers is “upgrade” and the notion of spending half the miles for an upgrade is magic to any member’s ears. It was certainly magic to the voters who awarded Delta with a first place finish.