In December 2022, ArtsHacker published a guide to three small business travel rewards programs. Two of these three programs (the two airline programs) have had significant changes to the point where the programs we wrote about in 2022 no longer exist, and the two airlines have entirely new programs in their place. Here we provide information about the current programs, and revisit one useful hotel program.
If you ever have employees or artists traveling to or from your organization’s home city, your organization should be earning small business travel rewards whenever possible. Many hotel chains and airlines have rewards programs specifically for business entities that are separate from the loyalty and rewards programs for the individual traveler. The good news is that both the traveler and the business or organization that pays for the travel can earn rewards in the separate programs on the same flight or hotel stay.
These programs are built for organizations that have regular travelers on individual or small party reservations. Think a small group of employees going to the annual Chorus America or League of American Orchestras conference, or an opera company that brings a handful of soloists to town for specific productions a few times a year. They do not provide incremental value for large reservations such as for an orchestra tour, and often are not eligible for earning on these larger corporate or group bookings anyway.
Here are two airline small business programs and one hotel small business program worth a look for an arts organization. All are free to join and again, participation does not preclude the individual traveler on the reservation from earning their own miles/points, or enjoying the perks of individually-earned status in the individual consumer loyalty program.
American Airlines AAdvantage Business
American Airlines used to have the Business Extra program, but at the beginning of 2024 retired that program and launched the new AAdvantage Business program. A key change is that earnings and redemptions are now the same mileage and loyalty currencies as in the consumer/person AAdvantage program. Miles earned by the business through the program can be redeemed directly for flights or transferred to employee’s personal American Airlines accounts. Travelers themselves earn additional credit toward American Airlines status levels when their tickets are associated with a business program account. There are also some additional perks for holders of American Airlines’ cobranded credit cards, and different tools for managing employee travel (e.g., deploying company payment methods). Enrollment is free.
In this writer’s opinion and experience, the new program is less attractive than its predecessor. But, it still might hold value depending on your organization’s air travel needs and patterns.
Delta Air Lines SkyMiles for Business
Delta Air Lines used to have the SkyBonus program, but near the end of 2023 retired that program and launched the new SkyMiles for Business program. The business program still has separate earnings from the personal/consumer SkyMiles program, and still has a variety of redemption options including Delta eGift Cards. The new program offers additional travel management tools to all participants. Enrollment is free, though there are minimum spend requirements for certain perks.
In this writer’s opinion and experience, the new program is no net change from its predecessor once all the changes are compared. Take a look and see if it would provide value based on your organization’s air travel needs and patterns.
Hyatt Leverage
On the hotel side is the Hyatt Leverage program, and there are no changes since we wrote about it previously. This isn’t so much a rewards program as it is a discount program, but that makes it quite simple. Upon enrolling, the business/organization will be issued a corporate code. Use this code in the Special Rates filed when making a reservation to return discounted rates as available. The terms state that discounts can be up to 15%. The program also comes with a simple dashboard where the account manager can track spending and stays. To stay in the program, the account must accrue 50 room nights per year. The terms also explicitly allow for employees to use the corporate discounts on their personal travel (it doesn’t matter who pays for the stays).
