Happy New Year! 2024 Wish List
Happy New Year Everyone!!
A new year means a new wish list. Yesterday, I wrote a post about how I only listed three items on purpose last year as those were my hot topics that I have been continuously tracking. This year, the list will be re-expanded back to five items.
Note that we generally provide a mid-term report on Canada Day (July 1) and a final report on New Year’s Eve. To be fair, all wishes have the goal of being a win/win/win scenario for everyone: “loyalty company, credit card company and customer”. In some cases it is just win/win because one party is not involved; for example a credit card company who offers in-house loyalty program with the customer as the other party.
Grading System
Before we get going, below is a recap of the grading system:
- A+ Exceeding expectations with nothing more to improve on (almost impossible to achieve this grade, but I listed it to put some perspective on the spectrum)
- A Awesome job
- B+ Good job
- B Decent, met expectations
- C Acceptable
- D Better than nothing
- E Nothing changed, no improvements
- F Fail, went backwards
Now onto the wish list.
1) Either a new co-branded airline or hotel loyalty credit card
As I mentioned yesterday, this item has been going backwards in Canada for several years in a row. Dare I say for over a decade now. At this point, I am hoping that we will see a reversal of this trend, that is why this item is on my list year after year.
2) Overall enhancements to train service in Canada
I strongly believe that Canada needs a major upgrade to its rail service. High speed trains are a no brainer to me considering that we have such a large country. It only makes sense to be able to move people across the country at high speeds, so that we reduce the number of domestic flights, cars and buses on the road. Trains have the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita compared to the other three types of long distance travel methods which is basically a trump card for me.
3) More competitive Canadian loyalty programs
We have become a very top heavy country in terms of competitive Canadian loyalty programs. I changed the wording of my wish item compared to years before to better reflect the current status of the industry. Basically, I am now hoping to see some of the smaller companies step up.
4) Upgrade spilling out of the RBC and HSBC integration
I am really hoping that RBC’s purchase of HSBC is about integrating to strengths of both companies, rather than weeding out the competition. I will be watching this merger very closely to see what upgrades RBC is going to offer. It will be fairly disappointing if we do not see any upgrades to RBC’s credit card portfolio and rewards programs.
5) Upgrade spilling out of the BMO and Air Miles integration
I have high hopes for BMO’s Air Miles, because Loblaws did a great job with PC Optimum, as did Scotiabank with Scene+. Why would BMO Air Miles be any different? This is another acquisition that I will be monitoring closely. It may take some time since BMO was really bailing out Air Miles from bankruptcy, so I will probably be more patient with this one than the RBC / HSBC one mentioned above.
Thoughts
Last year I was going for quality by listing less items. Now I am going back for quantity. These are the five hot topics that I will be monitoring very closely this year, which is also why they are all on my wish list for 2024.
What is on your wish list for this year? Please let us know in the comment section below!