Understanding Cross-Border Loyalty

The currency question is the one everyone gets wrong.

Run a program across multiple countries and the first real decision isn't creative or comms, it's currency.

Miles, nights, points, something measurable and non-debatable regardless of what someone actually paid or where they live. A flight is the same distance whether it's booked in dollars, rubles or pesos.

That sounds simple, but it rarely stays that way.

Marriott's Bonvoy program, for instance, converts non-USD spend at "the exchange rate selected by the Company," which may not match the rate on the member's own statement. It's perfectly legal and buried in the terms, but it's exactly the kind of thing that quietly erodes trust in a cross-market program if it isn't handled deliberately.

If you're structuring a program that crosses borders, the currency model isn't a technical afterthought. It's the foundation everything else sits on.