Hyatt Hotels & Resorts today announced it would offer Verified Identity Pass' smart card for use in airports with private registered traveler programs on a complimentary basis to its Gold Passport Diamond tier members. The move is the first time that a supplier has offered the VIP card as a complimentary amenity.
Hyatt said its partnership with VIP was exclusive for an unspecified, limited time and the chain plans to make the service available to other Hyatt guests through promotional offers later in the year.
The private registered traveler program is currently available only at Orlando International Airport, but is set to roll out into other major U.S. and Canadian airports this spring and summer. VIP's smart cards are embedded with such biometric information as fingerprints and iris scans and allow business travelers to quickly move through participating airports' security checkpoints
(BTN, Nov. 14, 2005). The smart card costs about $80.
Steven Brill, CEO of Verified Identity Pass, told an audience of senior travel executives at the Masters Program in Washington, D.C., today that Hyatt has purchased "tens of thousands" of memberships for the hotel chain's best customers. "Looking around the room," he said, "I'm also seeing some other upcoming partnerships." Hyatt and VIP also are in talks to set up kiosks in select Hyatt hotels where travelers can enroll in the program.
"Until now, Hyatt hasn't been able to positively affect the travel experience at airports, but we feel with this initiative we will be able to provide many of our loyal guests with a much simplified airport check-in experience," Hyatt spokesperson Katie Meyer told
BTN.
Hertz also has joined VIP as a marketing partner and is already promoting the program in Orlando, Hertz vice president of corporate affairs Richard Broome today told
BTN. In June, when the program is expected to expand to other airport, members of Hertz's frequent-renter programs will get a free month's membership in those programs for every year they sign up with VIP, he said.
"There's a role here for corporate travel managers to understand and know what the loyalty programs are all about and what makes one program better than another," said Bill Connors, executive director and COO of the National Business Travel Association. "This is yet another interesting amenity that Hyatt has come up with."
"They'll probably be others who will want to purchase these cards for their top customers as a perk or enhancement to a loyalty program," said Connors.
Cendant Travel Distribution Services in September 2005 announced it would offer customers of subsidiaries Orbitz for Business and Travelport to receive an unspecified discount off the smart-card fee.