Digital service ecosystem: Opportunity for alliances to enhance tourist experience

A strategic shift is taking place on a global scale, including in Vietnam, where major brands are redefining the concept of “loyal customers.” With the goal of putting customers at the center of the smart tourism ecosystem, service industries such as hotels, airlines, entertainment, etc. have joined hands to bring more consistent and convenient experiences to users.

A notable move in the Vietnamese service industry recently is that the national airline Vietnam Airlines officially cooperated with the Accor hotel group, allowing members of both sides to transfer reward points and flight miles in both directions. In the current context, it is clear that this is not just an agreement between two tourism businesses.

“By opening up access to Accor’s extensive global hotel portfolio, we offer members more meaningful ways to earn and spend miles, from business trips to family holidays to special lifestyle experiences. This is the next step in realizing Vietnam Airlines’ commitment to ‘putting customers first’,” said Nguyen Sy Thanh, Director of Lotusmiles, Vietnam Airlines.

This reality shows that leading brands are shifting from building standalone programs to creating loyalty ecosystems. Building such strategic partnerships (linking brands from different industries together) aims to create a closed value circle, where reward points can be accumulated and spent flexibly across platforms.

According to Mr. Nguyen Sy Thanh, allowing two-way conversion between hotel points and airline miles has created a synergistic benefit, breaking down the barrier between two separate service areas. It makes each flight option with Vietnam Airlines more attractive to Accor members and vice versa. As a result, the switching cost of travelers has also increased significantly.

Vietnam Airlines plane going to Europe. (Illustration photo: PV/Vietnam+)

Thanks to the seamless connection between such digital platforms, each customer and traveler can experience the flexibility and value of their accumulated reward points freely according to their personal needs, without being tied to a rigid reward points system that is only valid within a narrow range and at risk of expiring.

Now, thanks to the development of technology, every traveler's journey from booking flights, calling technology-based cars, booking hotel rooms, to spending by credit card... has become a seamless and more convenient chain of experiences thanks to the smart service ecosystem.

For example, American Express's Membership Rewards program allows customers to transfer reward points to dozens of partner airline and hotel programs, turning the accumulated value from "loyalty customers" into a highly liquid asset; or the Amazon Prime ecosystem is not only a free shipping service program but also integrates services from retail, entertainment (Prime Video), music (Prime Music)... to data storage, creating a comprehensive chain of utility links for users.

By participating in this data sharing ecosystem, businesses can clearly understand customer behavior, analyze based on personalized data about customer preferences and habits, know where they go, what they eat, where they stay...

It can be seen that businesses are facing both the opportunity and the challenge of "retaining" customer loyalty when entering the digital age. The advantage will belong to the brand that is able to build or participate in the strongest customer experience ecosystem./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/he-sinh-thai-dich-vu-so-co-hoi-lien-minh-cung-gia-tang-trai-nghiem-du-khach-post1076106.vnp