Members of the jetset pack and with deep pockets are set to reap big travel dividends, with exhilarating offers to plug into more corners of the globe in future.

A startup on the Chinese mainland is providing more options for frequent flyers and other consumers to earn extra mileage by spending through an array of choices, such as at restaurants and hotels, transportation and even purchasing commodities, via its online platform and credit the benefits to their preferred airlines.

Mileslife was founded in 2015 by Troy Liu - a renowned loyalty program expert and China's first writer and blogger who writes about such programs.

"Miles bring you memories, discounts don't bring you memories," says the company's chief executive, who himself had traveled to more than 100 countries by earning and burning miles and points in the past 17 years. He had also worked for the industry side doing marketing for some airlines and hotel loyalty programs before setting up Mileslife.

"I realized that we need a product to connect all sides for consumers to benefit from miles rewards. And, there hasn't been one who has ever done that. That's how Mileslife was born," explains Liu.

The startup has teamed up with dozens of airlines, including Qatar Airways, ANA Airlines and three of China's "Big Four" carriers - China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines.

Consumers could earn miles by paying through Mileslife's app when dining in restaurants, booking hotels or for transportation, as well as buying commodities. The miles rewarded will be credited directly to membership accounts of airlines Mileslife is working with.

"If consumers don't feel engaged with the reward program, they won't bother even to touch them," says Liu. "And, now, with the help of mobile technology which creates daily touching points to consumers, we want to bring the loyalty program closer to consumers and make it easier for them to access."

According to China Southern Airlines, the number of its "Pearl" members had reached 36.06 million as of June last year - an increase of 12.4 percent year-on-year. As for China Eastern Airlines, the number of frequent flyer members of its "Eastern Miles" program has reached 36.20 million - a year-on-year increase of 15.1 percent.

With the huge growth potential of frequent flyer program members in China, Mileslife has broadened the channels for the group of airline members to accumulate different mileage currencies. Besides, the miles earned through the platform are compatible with airline-branded credit cards. Users can get miles credited within a day.

Currently, according to Liu, the platform has more than 30,000 merchants and has partnered with 16 frequent-flyer programs covering more than 120 airlines. Besides, the startup is expected to collaborate further with several international airlines in Asia, the Middle East, the United States and Australia this year.

Mileslife earns by taking the platform charge from the merchants. On the other hand, it buys miles from airline partners to provide to the customers, who can earn one mile spending from HK$1-4 via the app.

Recently, the platform launched Mileslife Health through which users can redeem miles through daily walking steps, earning miles with a minimum 5,000 walking steps.

"You need to burn calories and it's quite an interesting idea to link people's health with actual miles earning together," says Liu.

He plans to bring more interesting functions to the app connecting consumers with miles.

Having ventured into 11 cities and regions across Asia, including nine cities on the Chinese mainland, and Hong Kong, and Singapore, Mileslife took the first step on the mainland, followed by Singapore and Hong Kong last August.

According to Liu, in less than five months since Mileslife's launch in Hong Kong, nearly 600 restaurants have come on board.

"The Hong Kong market is quite promising. I think we should be able to pass 1,000 merchants within the first quarter of 2019," says an upbeat Liu.

Jonathan Kan, general manager of Mileslife Hong Kong, says both consumers and merchants understand the concepts quickly.

"Hong Kong is a travel hub and, obviously, for average consumers here, they know a lot about miles. For us, it's a natural fit to be here in Hong Kong," he says.

To get in touch with the customers, Mileslife is spending most of its efforts on localizing the product. "The product is built up for locals in every market. In this case, we need to learn the local market, as well as to adjust languages on the platform to suit local people," says Liu.

As a lifestyle app, Mileslife takes a great account of user experience.

To date, the startup has expanded from five to six people to more than 90 staff working both online and offline.

"Since our product requires skills from multiple areas, we need people from the banking field, with an airline loyalty background, and we also need local people who're familiar with the local market. It's a bit challenging to find these people and piece them together," says Liu.

As many may compare Mileslife with Asia Miles - Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific's loyalty program - which also provides members with daily spending options to earn miles - Kan believes that Mileslife and Asia Miles are very different as the latter is only tied to one kind of mileage currency. "We do share some similarities, and Asia Miles could potentially become our partner," he suggests.

Mileslife plans to take on the Taiwan market, as well as markets beyond Asia. "In future, we hope to use valuable loyalty currency to help those small sector companies which are unable to build up programs and which nobody really cares about bringing in valuable customers, instead of bearing the cost themselves. That's because building up their own loyalty system really costs a lot," explains Liu.

pamela@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 01/25/2019 page9)