„The German Bonus Awards for the best customer loyalty programmes were presented for the second time. The winners included BahnBonus, Miles & More and Marriott Bonvoy.”
More than 45,000 consumers cast their votes in five different categories at the beginning of 2023. This corresponds to an increase of 82 percent compared to the previous year, when the award celebrated its premiere. Voting for the Programme of the Year took place in the categories Multipartner, Move, Hotel, Shopping/Lifestyle, Finance and Cashback. Prizes were awarded in each case for the best collection promotion, the best customer service and the best app.
In the Move category, which included airline loyalty programmes and Deutsche Bahn, BahnBonus was named Programme of the Year, followed by Miles & More and Flying Blue from Air France/KLM. The awards for best promotion and best app also went to BahnBonus. Miles & More was awarded for the best customer service.
Among the hotels, Marriott Bonvoy won the loyalty ranking in Germany. Second and third place went to Best Western Rewards and HotMiles by H-Hotels. The prize for the best app also went to Marriott Bonvoy, the loyalty programme of Marriott International. Best Western Rewards also took two first places: for “Best Customer Service” and “Best Points Earning Promotion”. World of Hyatt came in third for customer service and best app.
Payback American Express Credit Card took first place three times in the Finance category: as “Best Provider”, “Best Customer Service” and “Best App”. Miles & More Gold came out on top with the best promotion.
Payback had already come out on top in all four sub-categories in the Shopping/Lifestyle category programmes.
Shoop was voted Cashback Programme of the Year. Amex Offers from American Express was awarded for best customer service and best promotion, while CashbackDeals was voted first place for best app.
Jury awards and initiator
In addition to the customer awards, there were also two jury decisions. The Expert Award was given by seven loyalty experts to BahnBonus for Innovation of the Year, followed by Miles & More ahead of Payback.
Journalists who have been following the loyalty industry for years – including Bleisure Traveller editor Kai Böcking, gave the Media Awards for the best innovations in the programme to Flying Blue from Air France/KLM, followed by BahnBonus and Wyndham Rewards.
The German Bonus Awards were initiated by Ulf-Gunnar Switalski, who has been giving consumers tips on how to optimise their used loyalty programmes with his online magazine UpgradeGuru.de since 2015 and has also been a guest author for Bleisure Traveller for some time. “Whether points, miles or cashback, almost 60 million people in this country are now enthusiastic about the benefits offered by customer loyalty programmes,” he says. “At the German Bonus Awards, programmes are regularly recognised for this.”
Photo: © Deutsche Bonus Awards
