Half of loyalty program members across industries say programs no longer deliver value. That's from Accenture's 2025 research, and it should be uncomfortable reading for anyone running one of these programs. These aren't lapsed members or disengaged guests. They're people who enrolled, shared their data, and kept coming back. They opted into the relationship. They're just not getting much out of it.
The tier benefits that were supposed to hold them have been replicated across so many programs that they've lost meaning. A 5% discount, a late checkout subject to availability, a free night that takes two years to earn. None of that feels like recognition. It feels like a supermarket card with a nicer logo.
The irony is that the technology to do better has never been more accessible. AI can identify that a guest consistently books corner rooms, skips breakfast, and spends heavily at the spa. It can surface that pattern and trigger a relevant token of appreciation at the right moment. That's genuinely useful. But AI is pattern recognition, not magic, and patterns are only as good as the data behind them. Right now, most of the most valuable guest data is never captured at all.
The flight attendant who remembers a frequent flyer always skips the meal service. The front desk agent who notices a guest moves the desk to the window. The spa therapist who knows a client runs hot and adjusts the table temperature without being asked. The service advisor who learns a customer always wants the loaner washed before pickup. That's the intelligence that makes an interaction feel remembered. Almost none of it makes it into a system.
Antavo's 2026 Global Customer Loyalty Report found that Gen Z is 60% more likely to join a loyalty program than the average consumer, but they're also the fastest to leave when it disappoints. The acquisition side is working. The retention side isn't, because the experience doesn't follow through on the promise that enrollment implied.
Oracle's research found that 77% of guests are interested in automated pre-arrival messaging: a preference check, a room setup question, something that signals attention before they arrive. That's not a demand for technology. It's a demand to be known. Guests will meet brands halfway if they trust the information will actually be used. Not stored.
Starbucks understood this. Rewards doesn't personalize because it has better engineers than most loyalty-driven brands. It personalizes because every transaction feeds back into the relationship, learning order history, nudging trial of new items that fit the existing pattern, building around behavioral anchors like morning routines and seasonal preferences. The customer sees the result and stays in. Most brands have richer data than a coffee order.
AI spots patterns across millions of data points. Humans capture the moments that create those patterns in the first place. When both sides of that are working, personalized loyalty can feel like it used to, before scale made it impossible to maintain by hand.
Ready to close the gap between your loyalty program and your guest experience? Schedule a conversation with Meridian Thinking.
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