Link: Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit

One of the neat things about the Freddie Awards is that it brings together in one place the leadership of the major frequent flyer and frequent guest programs in one place.

And that presents an opportunity for an interesting conversation, and both industry and frequent travelers are welcome.

The event is Friday, April 27 at the Renaissance Newark, and tickets are available for $99. The price includes lunch, and proceeds go to charity.

The event is perfectly timed not just for all of the industry leaders in town for the Freddies, but also folks coming to Frequent Traveler University, which begins with cocktails Friday evening after the Summit.

The morning session is on “Miles As an Emerging Payment Currency” with American Express, Points.com, Loylogic, and Swift Exchange. That will be followed by lunch and an afternoon session on “What Makes Hotel Loyalty Programs Tick” with Marriott, Starwood, Hyatt, Choice, Best Western, IHG, Wyndham, Hilton, Carlson, Accor, and Taj Hotels with questions like how hotel award categories are determined, and whether hotel programs may be better suited for spinoffs than airline programs.

Last year’s Randy Petersen Travel Executive Summit was a luncheon featuring the heads of the American, United, Delta, Hyatt, and American Express Membership Rewards loyalty programs. The discussion was fascinating — we got advance intel on changes to the American AAdvantage million miler program, that United was looking to focus more on high revenue flyers than just elites, as well as Delta’s IT problems. And questions in the audience were particularly hard hitting for Jeff Zidell at Hyatt (what happened to Faster Free Nights and “G bonuses”..?) and Delta (why does your website price a coach award between New York and Los Angeles at 100,000 miles?). The opportunity to ask questions and interact with the heads of the programs is a real treat for any frequent flyer.

I’m looking forward to it! With two sessions instead of just one, and more loyalty programs participating in the discussion (and more opportunities to ask hard hitting questions!), this year’s event should be even better than the last one.