TUI has confirmed its new TUI Smiles Rewards Club loyalty programme will be available to all customers, including those who book through independent travel agents.
In a statement released this afternoon, it said: “TUI Smiles Rewards Club is open to all customers, regardless of how they book. For customers who choose to book through an independent travel agent, that relationship remains firmly with the agent and the programme is not designed to change that.
“Customers can choose to sign up to The TUI Smiles Reward Club directly with TUI and, if they wish, manually add their booking to collect rewards. This process requires the customer to actively opt in and does not automatically enrol bookings made via third-party agents.
“The experience for third-party bookings is intentionally less automated, reflecting that the booking relationship sits with the agent. However, the programme can still add value by giving customers additional reasons to choose a TUI holiday, which agents can benefit from as part of their overall offer.
“We continue to support our trade partners with dedicated offers and incentives, as we do today.”
The new loyalty programme is already available in the Nordic countries and will be rolled out to the UK later this year.
Initially, TUI UK said that since ‘contractual arrangements differ between countries’ it wasn’t sure if it would be available to customers who booked via independent agents, but today’s statement confirms they will be included.
