From upgrade ‘hack’ to IT fixes, Amtrak loyalty chief dishes on Guest Rewards' big growth

13.12.2024 - 13:17 / thepointsguy.com

There's big news on the rails this week: Amtrak just reached 20 million members of its Guest Rewards program.

Launched in 2000, the Guest Rewards program was originally introduced to coincide with the launch of the Acela trainset that travels along the I-95 corridor from Boston to Washington, D.C.

And what might've once been a program focused on road warriors based in the Northeast has since grown its appeal to cover the entire country.

To celebrate the milestone, Amtrak's loyalty chief, Lisa Copeland, spoke exclusively to TPG about where the program is headed. Read on for the details.

New train smell: Amtrak's brand-new high-speed Acela trains finally set to enter service next spring

Amtrak's newest redemption option, Points & Cash, launched earlier this year, and it's since been well received.

In fact, it's quickly become "one of our most popular redemptions," said Copeland, who posited that this new option is so popular "because it's giving members the opportunity to leverage different point values that they have."

While the redemption rate for outright free travel is still better than Points & Cash, the ability to redeem a smaller subset of points toward a trip is understandably quite appealing. (Many airlines also offer a similar redemption option that mixes cash with miles.)

... surprisingly not New York.

Given Amtrak's penetration along the Northeast corridor, one might've expected that New York, Massachusetts or Pennsylvania might be the state with the most Guest Rewards members.

It turns out, that's not the case. "You would be surprised to know that we have the most Amtrak Guest Rewards members outside of the Northeast; it's California," said Copeland. Don't worry, though. New York is a close second, according to Copeland.

While the program launched with a focus on frequent travelers in the Northeast corridor, it's since expanded its reach nationwide.

And with that, Copeland said that as the program scales, "it's our role to really make sure we're designing a loyalty program that meets different customer profiles and different customer needs. Clearly, the business traveler is important to us, but also, there's an opportunity for us to connect with all of our passengers."

Amtrak Guest Rewards: How to earn and redeem points with train travel

One area where airline and hotel loyalty programs have excelled is in building out a broad suite of partners that touch all aspects of the travel journey.

Amtrak sees value in partnerships and wants to create more for its Guest Rewards program in the coming years. "A top priority for us, we are focused on partnership development. And without giving away too much, I think you should expect to hear from us."

Copeland was mum about what type of