How loyal are loyalty schemes?

I’m a chatter box, I love chatting to my customers, new and old and quite often we get into some deep chats, very often putting the cruise industry to its rights.

Last week I was talking to a client that has done so many cruises with Cunard that he sees the cabin staff more often than they see their own family.

We got talking about Cunard’s loyalty scheme and how it works, he came up with his own idea of how it works and why.

Currently the scheme runs on how many nights you spend on a Cunard ship, the more nights the higher your membership and with that benefits towards your next cruise such as on board credit which for this gentleman is great, however he understands that not everyone is as fortunate as him having so many cruises a year and thinks it should be done on how much you spend with Cunard.

For example, you spend various amounts on the cabin type you book. Someone booking a suite will be on the same membership level as someone booking a late deal on an inside cabin (good point). Then there is the on board spending you do, or in some cases don’t do. An example of not spending any money could again be those same passengers that booked a cheap late deal inside cabin not doing any shore excursions, just sitting on the top deck all day reading a book and getting a free soft drink from the restaurant or using their free on board spend to purchase drinks (another good point).

I am sure you can see the idea behind my clients thoughts and his argument has genuine weight behind it.

My opinion of it? Each to their own, if someone wants a late deal and does not want to spend on board or just can’t then so be it, if the cruise line want to reward them with on board credit then goo on them, but, perhaps a high or higher spender should receive more on board credits for their future cruises as recognition of the clients commitment to purchase and spend on the cruise lines products.

What’s your thoughts to this?