Details: New Brilliant By Langham Loyalty Program

Luxury hotel group Langham has some fantastic hotels, though a small portfolio, with just a couple dozen properties. The group has its biggest presence in Asia, but also has some properties in North America and Europe.

The company has just unveiled a new loyalty program, named Brilliant by Langham, which is launching this week. Frankly, the program doesn’t seem particularly inspiring, especially since you’d think Langham would use this as a point of differentiation, given its small footprint.

Details of Brilliant by Langham loyalty program

The Brilliant by Langham loyalty program offers the ability to earn and redeem points, and also to rack up elite status. The program is entirely revenue based, as the amount you spend determines the points and elite status you earn. The number of points required for a redemption is also based on the cost of an experience. Let’s go over all the details of the program.

Earning points with Brilliant by Langham

Brilliant by Langham members earn 150 points per $5 spent on eligible charges, like hotel rooms, dining, spa services, and more. Brilliant by Langham points are valid for 24 months, though can be extended with any activity whereby you earn or redeem points.

Okay, can I just point out how that seems unnecessarily complicated? If you’re going to create a points currency from scratch, why make the amounts so random? At a minimum, why not make it 30 points per $1? Better yet, why not just adjust the value of the currency, and make it something more obvious, whether it’s one point per dollar, or 10 points per dollar. But 150 points per $5? Bleh.

Redeeming points with Brilliant by Langham

Brilliant by Langham is be a revenue based loyalty program on the redemption side. So you can redeem your points toward a stay at any Langham property, with no blackout dates. However, the redemption rates haven’t yet been revealed, which is kind of a major detail. Furthermore, you’ll need to pay entirely for a stay or experience with cash or points, so you can’t mix and match the two.

It’s also stated that it will be possible to convert Brilliant by Langham points to airline miles, though the ratio hasn’t yet been published. The only thing that has been clarified is that transfers will take up to 60 days. Ouch.

Elite status with Brilliant by Langham

Brilliant by Langham has five membership tiers:

• Onyx is the entry level membership tier, and it’s what you get just for signing up
• Topaz is the the first elite tier and requires 12,000 points, which correlates to $400 in spending
• Diamond is the second elite tier and requires 108,000 points, which correlates to $3,600 in spending
• Sapphire is the third elite tier and requires 360,000 points, which correlates to $12,000 in spending
• Ruby is the highest elite tier and requires 720,000 points, which correlates to $24,000 in spending

Again, let me emphasize how silly Langham’s tiers are, in terms of the amounts being used here. Top tier status requires 720,000 points, with the earnings rate being 150 points per $5 spent. I mean, I’d like to think I’m pretty good at arithmetic, but I feel like some people will struggle with that just a bit.

Unfortunately the perks aren’t much to get excited about either. As you’d expect from a loyalty program nowadays, what’s being heavily emphasized is “VIP events access” and “invitations to member-exclusive experiences,” though that doesn’t do much to offer ongoing value.

The actual elite perks seem weak, given the spending required. For example, top tier Ruby members receive early check-in subject to availability, late check-out subject to availability, room upgrade vouchers (with no further details on what those entail), plus a welcome amenity.

Brilliant by Langham seems better than nothing, but…

Langham had an old guest recognition program, and promised to launch an exciting new program. I can’t say that I’m impressed by what the hotel group came up with, at least based on what we know so far:

• The announcement of the new program is light on details when it comes to value of points, perks, etc.
• The program seems unnecessarily confusing, like earning 150 points per $5 spent, and elite status requiring 720,000 points
• There’s just not much substance to the program in terms of the actual rewards or elite perks; the program offers less value than you’d get if booking through something like Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts or Virtuoso
• I don’t think this program will do much to get people to actually be loyal to Langham, in which case it just seems like an additional cost center
• I feel like the marketing around the program seems off in terms of consumer psychology, as the font, logos, pictures, etc., all look more like what you’d expect from a mid-tier lifestyle hotel brand, rather than a luxury hotel group from Asia that has a history dating back 150+ years

Anyway, I certainly could be wrong, and we’ll wait and see what the full details of the program look like. However, I’m not impressed by what we know so far.

Bottom line

Brilliant by Langham is the name of Langham’s new loyalty program. The program offers the ability to earn and redeem points, and has five published membership tiers. While I always appreciate a rewards program, this doesn’t feel like one that will do a whole lot to impact consumer behavior, which is disappointing.

What do you make of Brilliant by Langham?