Inside The Etihad Guest Loyalty Program With Kim Hardaker

Simple Flying

By Joanna Bailey

Published Aug 14, 2020

Etihad plans to resume flights to Belgrade towards the end of November. Photo: Getty Images.

Etihad Guest is the loyalty program for Etihad Airways - the flag carrier of the UAE, based in Abu Dhabi. In our featured podcast, Paula Thomas of Let's Talk Loyalty chats with the head of the program about a range of issues, from how it's coping with COVID to what new initiatives are in development to keep its customers engaged.

Etihad-Virgin-Australia-Rescue-getty — Etihad has also fallen foul of the CAAC's new policy. Photo: Getty Images.

Since its re-launch in November 2019, Etihad Guest has grown exponentially. Boasting more than seven million members today, the program continues to innovate, finding new ways to reward members who are keen to stay connected while staying home.

This episode features Kim Hardaker, a self-confessed "data nerd" who shares a compelling loyalty statistic and explains their new and extraordinary "world of thoughtfulness" campaign - a great example of building emotional loyalty at a challenging time.

Surviving COVID

Kim is the head of the Etihad Guest program and formerly held a similar position with Qantas. During the podcast, she talks about her career, her hopes for the program and how it has looked to grow even stronger during the COVID crisis.

To stay connected with customers even when they weren’t flying, Etihad Guest ran a number of incentives. These included gifting tier miles, reducing the criteria for tiers and even reinstating expired miles for customers.

Etihad, Boeing 787, Vienna — Etihad's higher-end offerings have been well-rated but face fierce competition amid decreased demand. Photo: Etihad Airways

The program even took COVID as an opportunity to launch its new mobile app, offering a swathe of new features and functionality. One of the most exciting of these was its tie-up with some of the major Abu Dhabi malls, allowing customers to redeem Etihad miles in store, to benefit from the program even while grounded.

Throughout it all, Kim and her team have stayed focused on engaging with their customers to find out what they really want from loyalty. This, it seems, has set Etihad Guest on a strong path to becoming a top loyalty scheme in the post COVID world.