From upgrade ‘hack’ to IT fixes, Amtrak loyalty chief dishes on Guest Rewards' big growth
There's big news on the rails this week: Amtrak just reached 20 million members of its Guest Rewards program.
Launched in 2000, the Guest Rewards program was originally introduced to coincide with the launch of the Acela trains that travel along the Interstate 95 corridor from Boston to Washington, D.C.
And what might've once been a program focused on road warriors based in the Northeast has since grown its appeal to cover the entire country.
To celebrate the milestone, Amtrak's loyalty chief, Lisa Copeland, spoke exclusively to TPG about where the program is headed. Read on for the details.
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Points & Cash is well received
Amtrak's newest redemption option, Points & Cash, launched earlier this year, and it's since been well received.
In fact, it's quickly become "one of our most popular redemptions," said Copeland, who posited that this new option is so popular "because it's giving members the opportunity to leverage different point values that they have."
While the redemption rate for outright free travel is still better than Points & Cash, the ability to redeem a smaller subset of points toward a trip is understandably quite appealing. (Many airlines also offer a similar redemption option that mixes cash with miles.)
The state with the most members is ...
... surprisingly not New York.
Given Amtrak's penetration along the Northeast corridor, one might've expected that New York, Massachusetts or Pennsylvania might be the state with the most Guest Rewards members.
It turns out that's not the case. "You would be surprised to know that we have the most Amtrak Guest Rewards members outside of the Northeast; it's California," said Copeland. Don't worry, though: New York is a close second, according to Copeland.
While the program launched with a focus on frequent travelers in the Northeast Corridor, it's since expanded its reach nationwide.
And with that, Copeland said that as the program scales, "It's our role to really make sure we're designing a loyalty program that meets different customer profiles and different customer needs. Clearly, the business traveler is important to us, but also, there's an opportunity for us to connect with all of our passengers."
Amtrak Guest Rewards: How to earn and redeem points with train travel
More partners are coming
One area where airline and hotel loyalty programs have excelled is in building out a broad suite of partners that touch all aspects of the travel journey.
Amtrak sees value in partnerships and wants to create more for its Guest Rewards program in the coming years. "A top priority for us, we are focused on partnership development. And without giving away too much, I think you should expect to hear from us."
Copeland was mum about what type of partnerships we might see first, but she did emphasize that partnerships are being designed "for our members to extract more value and to stay top of mind."
Don't expect points transfers
Another area where airlines and hotels have made (massive) sums of money is in selling their points to credit card companies, which then, in turn, let cardmembers transfer their credit card points to partner loyalty programs.
However, Copeland wasn't bullish on bringing back points transfers to the Guest Rewards program. "Our loyalty program is the best way to enjoy Amtrak because you're going be earning and redeeming on all of your travel."
Aside from two cobranded credit cards issued by First National Bank of Omaha, Amtrak isn't currently entertaining other ways to accelerate your points-earning potential. (Note that Amtrak was a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner until 2015.)
The upgrade 'hack'
Speaking about the most lucrative redemptions, Copeland shared one of my tried-and-true "hacks" of the Guest Rewards program.
"One of the best ways actually to upgrade for Amtrak is booking an Acela business-class ticket and upgrading to our first-class experience," Copeland said.
That upgrade costs just 2,500 points, and according to Copeland, this is "probably the best way to experience an upgrade on Amtrak." I fully concur.
Lucrative redemption rates
Take a look at a $213 train from Washington, D.C., to New York. It will reliably cost about 8,000 Amtrak points.
Meanwhile, if you were booking a flight, there's no telling how much Delta Air Lines or United Airlines would charge for the same route since those programs offer dynamically priced redemptions.
Amtrak's redemption rates are mostly fixed at around 2.67 cents per point, which means that some of the cheapest trains are pretty reasonably priced. (A $10 one-way from Philadelphia to New York requires just 375 points.)
And Copeland likes Amtrak's redemption rate strategy because it can provide immediate, measurable value. "If you were to compare this loyalty program to others in hospitality, don't be fooled. One thousand points for Amtrak is going to get you a lot and unlock a lot more travel value than even 5,000 points with some of our competitors," she said, referring to airlines that compete for an overlapping slice of the intra-Northeast market.
IT fixes are coming
One of the biggest pain points with the Guest Rewards program is the IT interface. (For instance, sometimes it can take weeks for train activity to post to your account.)
Amtrak is well aware of its technical shortcomings, and Copeland emphasized that "We are 100% working on IT. We have a very robust roadmap. We recognize we have a lot of opportunity, and we are diligently working on that."
Expiration dates probably aren't changing
In recent years, we've seen more loyalty programs drop expiration dates for their currencies. Amtrak's policy is that points expire after 24 months of inactivity, and that policy probably isn't changing anytime soon, according to Copeland.
"I think we have a pretty lucrative expiration program today. As long as you're an active member with Amtrak, your points won't expire. So, there's a lot of opportunity to maintain those points over a 24-month period," she said.
Asked about what portion of the 20 million members are active members, Copeland declined to share specifics.
Offers are getting more personalized
Some travelers might know Amtrak Guest Rewards for its promotions, such as the annual "buy three, get one free" campaign, which awards a free train ticket after taking three round trips.
This promotion usually requires travel in the winter, and the free ticket is available to use in the summer. This is a popular one-size-fits-all promotion model.
But that's not necessarily the type of promotion Amtrak will invest in in the future. Copeland shared that "We are also looking at being a lot more personalized with our offers."
In September, Amtrak launched a Mystery Offer that gave different offers to different travelers. Copeland said to expect more of this style of offer in the coming years.
No invitation-only tier
Concierge Key, Delta 360, and Global Services are the names of the invitation-only membership tiers that the Big Three U.S. airlines offer.
It typically takes upward of $50,000 a year in spending to be invited into one of these levels, but the benefits that they confer are often the envy of many lower-tier elite members.
As for Amtrak, its highest published status level is Select Executive, which requires $10,000 in annual Amtrak spending.
But does Amtrak offer an invitation-only tier? American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines executives typically punt on any question about their invitation-only tiers as they try to keep those levels under wraps.
Copeland felt no such compunction on questions about whether Amtrak has a special invitation-only tier. "We do not," she said emphatically.
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