The death of loyalty

AS TRAVEL wobbles and spending declines, hotels and airlines the world over are fighting to hold on to customers. Loyalty, the buzzword for much of the 1980s and 1990s when marquee brands strove to understand and closely identify with their audience, is being replaced by price incentives and a grab-all approach.

It is increasingly evident in the sorts of offers available online and the 'best price guarantees' offered by many players to induce customers to stay with them on the basis of a slashed price rather than the excitement of enjoying a superior experience, perhaps also at a decent rate. Price has muscled out the product.

It is something Facebook and Google encourage with relentless single-minded zeal, focusing on clicks rather than the 'value' of these clicks, many of them fake and instantly manufactured through ubiquitous click farms. The entire structure is a bogus pursuit based on the mythical power of 'quantifiable' clicks. This is not to ignore the many bookings that come through valid clicks. …