Last year’s second place program finds it way to the top. IHG Rewards Club’s Big Win wins in Middle East / Asia / Oceania just as it did in Europe / Asia. Members were happy with their individual offer to earn a minimum of 50,000 points, with many being offered the chance to earn a great many more points.
Fido and Kitty win. Velocity Frequent Flyer introduced the ability to earn points for traveling with a cat or dog on a Virgin Australia domestic flight—a minimum of 300 points earned per pet carrier for each flight sector flown, and for up to two pet carriers per booking. Virgin Australia (then known as Virgin Blue) won a Best Award Freddie in 2009, so this is the second win in this category for the program.
Thomas Alberts, Manager, Airline Partnerships, is in attendance tonight and accepts the award for Virgin Australia Velocity. And he makes a quick exit with a smile.
Once again IHG Rewards Club and Le Club Accorhotels switched places from last year in this category with IHG Rewards again coming out on top. The Big Win offered a minimum 50,000 points when completing tailor made offers based on members’ personal booking and travel patterns within IHG’s brand family of hotels.
It feels a bit like déjà vu all over again as Marriott Rewards wins again in this category. The program has been offering its popular MegaBonus promotion for several years now. In an ever-changing industry, members have grown to expect the trustworthy MegaBonus to return year after year and continue to rate this bonus as best in class.
Bob Behrens, Vice President Marriott Rewards accepts the award.
Avianca is known for awarding double miles with miles purchases. Last year, the offer was a close third in this category and this year, voters chose this offer as their favorite. During April, August and December, for every 1,000 miles that members purchased, LifeMiles awarded an additional 100 percent bonus miles.
Yells come from the crowd as Avianca wins!
Flying Blue’s Great Take-Off promotion took place in November 2013, and AIR FRANCE – KLM and their airline partners offered Promo Awards@, inviting Flying Blue members to save up to 50 percent on award miles required for award flights, with many more destinations and a full five-month travel period instead of the usual two.
Attending the Freddie Awards this evening from Flying Blue is Herbert Verschuren, Vice President Customer Marketing and Sébastien Reliat-Brunetière, Head of Loyalty Marketing and Communications. Herbert accepts the award for Flying Blue and says a very quick “Thank you.”