Hilton Worldwide Owners Access, Orbitz Big Winners at Loyalty360 CX Awards

Hitlon HotelHilton Worldwide Owners Access and Orbitz Worldwide were the big winners Monday at the inaugural Loyalty360 CX Awards ceremony as part of the 4th annual Loyalty360 Engagement & Experience Expo. The winning brands excel at creating meaningful and memorable customer experiences that build and sustain customer loyalty.

“How brands define Customer Experience is very important to how they operate,” Mark Johnson, CEO and CMO of Loyalty360, said during the ceremony. “The definitional challenge impacts how brands measure customer experience.”

Loyalty360 CX Awards are presented to brands that have demonstrated excellence in categories including: Multi- and omni-channel strategy, brand messaging, customer-centric culture, customer insights, and technology and trends. Every winner has created innovative and memorable experiences for its customers that have ultimately led to lasting customer loyalty.

Brands that excel in every category were awarded the 360-Degree Award. 

Hilton Worldwide Owners Access garnered the 360-Degree CX Award: North America, as well as Platinum awards in the Best Brand Messaging and Communication in Customer Experience and Best Omni-channel/Multi-channel Customer Experience categories.

Jonathan Pettus, Manager of the Owners Access program at Hilton Worldwide, said during the awards ceremony that the program is a recognition club, not a loyalty club.

“We tailor our efforts around 3 Pillars: Ease, Access, and Recognition,” he explained. “Our founder, Conrad Hilton, opened his first hotel down the street in 1919. While we’re all out to capture the wallet of our customers, we also want to capture their hearts.”

Orbitz Worldwide earned Platinum awards in the Best Customer Insights in Customer Experience and Technology & Trends categories.

“We want to be the most rewarding place to book your travel,” Stacey Symonds, Senior Director, Consumer Insights, Orbitz Worldwide, said during the awards ceremony. “We keep the customer in the forefront of our program. We built our technology in-house so this is really a special recognition as this was brought to fruition.”

For Hilton Worldwide’s Owners Access Club, it defines customer experience as providing relevant services in a personalized way by figuring out what its members want most – more time, less hassle, meaningful perks – and then brings those things to life. When its customers receive exceptional service from the club, they are inspired to provide the same level of service at their properties, which perpetuates the success of the entire company.

The company’s customer experience strategy hinges on providing relevant services in a personalized way. Communications often involve sound bites from actual customers, called “owner stories,” which underscore both the relevant services the club offers and the personal touch it provides. Owner stories epitomize Hilton Worldwide’s Owners Access Club’s customer experience strategy by showcasing the club’s individualized approach. Stories also provide examples of how to use the club’s unique services, demonstrate member engagement, highlight personalized or exclusive experiences, and allow visibility among their peers.

For Orbitz Worldwide, it earned a No. 1 ranking in Online Travel Website Customer Satisfaction in the 2014 American Customer Satisfaction Index. Orbitz strives to understand the unmet needs and significant pain points within online travel to make the customer experience as simple and convenient as possible. Orbitz uses a full range of customer insights techniques to assess these needs, from individual conversations with customers to online panels and sophisticated quantitative research utilizing modeling, discrete choice, and segmentation.

What’s more, Orbitz always knows the clear pulse of what is happening with the customer experience. It regularly conducts deep-dive studies into particular topics such as loyalty programs, mobile usage, and online travel booking features, to maintain a strong foundation when developing new programs and updating its mobile and desktop booking experiences.

Customer Insights were used to help Orbitz reach program goals in several ways. In describing the Rewards program on the website, the loyalty team set out to ensure the program was easy to understand and join. Consumer feedback was collected using an interactive editor, quantitative study, and usability testing that exposed strengths and opportunities to improve images, text and functionality.

Several important site enhancements resulted from these studies. The loyalty team also aimed to improve word of mouth about the Rewards program, so existing Net Promoter Score (NPS) measurement was leveraged. The internal Loyalty management team now uses NPS on a regular basis to ensure the program remains highly recommended by consumers to friends and family.

Winners of the Loyalty360 CX Awards include:

BRAND MESSAGING      

Platinum: Hilton Worldwide Owners Access

Gold: Safelite AutoGlass

Silver: Global Hotel Alliance

Bronze: AARP   

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC CULTURE 

Platinum: Aramark         

Gold: Safelite AutoGlass

Silver: Ford Motor Company      

Bronze: Raley’s Family of Fine Stores

CUSTOMER INSIGHTS   

Platinum: Orbitz              

Gold: Safelite AutoGlass

Silver: Global Hotel Alliance

Bronze: Barclaycard

OMNI-CHANNEL/MULTI-CHANNEL     

Platinum: Hilton Worldwide Owners Access        

Gold: GameStop             

Silver: AARP      

Bronze: Sacra Studios    

TECHNOLOGY & TRENDS  

Platinum: Orbitz

Gold: Hilton Worldwide Owners Access

Silver: Dell Advantage Loyalty Program

Bronze: Ask.com

360-DEGREE AWARD; NORTH AMERICA

Platinum: Hilton Worldwide Owners Access

Gold: Safelite AutoGlass

Silver: JetBlue

Bronze: AARP

360-DEGREE AWARD; EMEA, APAC & LATAM

Platinum: VV-Auto

Gold: ANZ

Silver: EB Games

Bronze: GameStop +

Orbitz

A jury consisting of 10 highly esteemed industry professionals reviewed and scored each entry. To make the awards truly objective and unbiased, judges scored each entry based on strict scoring guidelines. Evidence of measurable results was emphasized. 

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