With a tourism industry that is clearly recovering, air traffic levels on the rise and new destinations to discover, Chileans are increasingly looking for new and better alternatives to make the dream of a postponed trip come true, a mid-year getaway or, from now on, planning a vacation for 2025.
And while online shopping events are a good opportunity to find convenient prices, there is an alternative that offers very good options for purchasing using benefits and promotions. These are the agreements that different tourism companies have with their strategic partners that provide, for example, special and exclusive advantages such as online point redemption, access to interest-free installment payments, discount promotions and/or trip improvements.
Globally, current trends in this regard are geared towards travel agencies combining their profits with those of a partner and, in this way, boosting customer satisfaction while maintaining their loyalty. Marcela Ventura, COCHA's alliance manager, explains that the idea behind these agreements is for mutual clients to perceive the advantages of participating in these alliances for their trips, for example.
“If we look globally, the alliances most valued by customers are those that have benefits associated with travel, since they are aspirational and more playful. We all dream of traveling, and through this way, this experience is brought closer to customers,” adds the executive.
The advantages of agreements
Among the main benefits offered by the agreements are the possibility for customers to redeem their points as full or partial payment for a trip, a higher value for their accumulated points, hotels and packages with special rates and interest-free installments for all purchases, among others.
According to Marcela Ventura, at COCHA “all our alliances are with companies that offer excellent service to their clients and that have their own payment method, whether it be a credit card, debit card or points. This allows our partners’ clients to obtain a benefit that is valued by them and by accessing COCHA to exchanges, prizes or discounts, in addition to the best service, the client always favors the payment method that offers these advantages.”
According to data from the COCHA Insights study, the products or services most sought by travelers who are clients of these alliances are packages that include flight, hotel and travel assistance. In addition, they take advantage of interest-free installments to pay easily, and if they have accumulated points, they use them to finance the trip or part of it.
The same report states that 100% of strategic partners' clients have access to the benefits offered and that if they do not have enough points for a trip, they can always redeem them as a credit, or access the discounts offered by COCHA, as well as payment in interest-free installments.
Currently, COCHA has 5 exclusive alliances:
Itaú: redeem Itaú points + 3 or 10 interest-free installments.
BICE: 3 interest-free installments + application of BICE dollars.
Cencosud Scotiabank: 20% additional OFF on the copayment of Cencosud points + Cencosud Scotiabank MasterCard credit card.
Jumbo Prime: exclusive discounts on hotels.
Ripley: exchange points for GiftCard to use at COCHA.
“The basic payment facilities are maintained throughout the year, and we usually have promotions that improve these conditions. For example, there are campaigns where points are worth more, we add new interest-free installments and/or we have new institutions that offer interest-free installments for a limited period,” adds the COCHA alliance manager.
Source: Cocha.