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Hi Everyone,
Just like to add one more consideration if I can. I think it would be a good idea to incorporate somehow insurance coverage when purchasing a package on LL though an LL credit card. For example the Visa Gold offers travel cancellation plus other insurance benefitsfor trips charged on their card to their members.
Being Canadian I also agree with Jashermd, hopefully these cards will not only be available to US residents.
two2go
omegaet, do you really need another credit card? I know I have my mail box jammed with new credit offers almost daily. Since this is your idea, do you supposed luxury link will issue you card#1, when they get ready?
Hi tictoc
Like you, I stay away from all new credit card offers like the plague. Personally, use only one card (Amex) for the air miles it gets me, so my wife and I can fly to exotic places in different parts of the world. Since all credit cards charge usurously high interest on unpaid balances, I make it a practice never to have a balance.
If LL issues a card of its own, it'd have to have some unusually good features/benefits for me to join in.
curtiejoe
The idea is a good one. However, there are a lot of LL-ers who do not live in the USA. Since LL is based in the USA, it's likely that the card will be affiliated to a US Bank, andtherefore credit checks can only be performed on people who reside in the US. In my case, I used to live in the US, still have a home there and a bank account, so I could probably get one, and wonderful (!) since the pound is doing so well against the dollar, paying my bill would be great. There are others, however, who would not be able to take advantage of this facility, so is it fair to offer a facility that not everyone can use??
bdsouza....my suggestion is given for the consideration of improving the loyalty of luxury link clients (many of whom, but certainly not all,are probably US based). If I were the CEO of the company, and reviewed the demographics of my purchasers, and realized most of my "buyers" and most of my visitors were US based, I would probably consider the development of an affinity credit card with a US bank and institute a"perks" program for users of the card,directly relatingto benefits for future Luxury Link purchases (trips or merchandise).The only limitations for issuance would be those imposed by the issuing bank(which would likely restrict usage by non-residents). Depending on your perspective, this may be fair or unfair....however, the ultimatedecision will be astrategic onemade by Luxury Link management. It may be their decision to disregard my suggestion in favor of not possibly alienating those customers unable to participate.
Irealize "my view" is self serving and for that, I apologize.
Let me add, for the benefit of my off shore colleagues, I would enjoy theenviable position of buying auction items from this web site with astronger currencies than my US dollars...Sterling and Euros come to mind.
I will remain a client, regardless of the outcome of this suggestion.
Regards,
Hello,
As a fellow UK resident I agree with BDSouza -- non-US residents often get shortchanged by US-based loyalty programmes. I banked my Virgin miles with Continental so I could combine them with my Continental mileage to obtain elite status...only to discvoer that elite upgrades are only available when flying out of US airports, something which was not mentioned on any of their documentation (I believe it's been added since after I wrote several emails to the people concerned). Needless to say I was not happy :( And from now on my miles are staying with Virgin.
From a strategic standpoint it depends whether LL wants to push into the UK/European market or not. Not many people over here know about LL, and given that we find US dollar pricing very attractive it would make sense to want to move into this market...but that would mean LL needs to position itself to attract European customers.
Personally, I hope that LL does both -- create a US-based programme for US customers and a European one for EU customers. Then we can all reap the benefits!
Cheers,
Julian
I agree 100% that any company has to consider the marketplace in which it operates, and the demographics of its client base. If there is sufficient interest from either continent, then it should be relatively simple to affiliate the credit card to one or more banks. One last thing, I have noticed that several of the European prices are now priced higher in US Dollars than they were a few months ago - makes sense because the 'price' that LL has to guarantee is based on a dollar rate, since the transactions are charged to the account in dollars. So, if a European package, for example is 'sold' to LL with a minimum value of 500, this would translate into $675. We would bid on anything over $675, which, for the Europeans would get changed back to Euros. The advantage would be if there was an exchange rate fluctuation before the credit card bill became due. At most this might be a difference of around 5%, since european banks are allowed to charge up to +/- 5% of LIBOR by law. Like the others, I would remain a customer regardless.
Just to be picky (and it is nothing to do with LL, of course)the difference in price for europeans travelling to the USA is at least $200 more off-peak, and up to $400 during the summer. Strange, since the x-rate for the dollar is much better for europeans, yet we all 'understand' it's in response to market forces...
I agree with jashermd that it might be interesting to have a european base. There are some websites that offer a similar facility in europe. However, the only way to find out if there is a market for it is to do the research. Fora like this, help initiate this process.