Q: Darren, welcome to Australia. How did My Booking Rewards first come about?
A: About 17 years ago I was in Puerto Rico with a hotelier who was then a client of mine and he said something that really stuck with me.
His problem was simple but fundamental: he wanted to build relationships directly with travel agents, not just rely on one contract and hope it filtered down.
He asked, “What can I do to better influence the sale of my hotel? How do I reach them?”
I said, “Give me two weeks and I’ll come back with an idea.” And that idea eventually became My Booking Rewards.
Q: What was the idea you brought back to him?
A: We decided to build a reward program, but we quickly realised it shouldn’t just be for one hotel. Instead of creating a standalone scheme, we built a rewards hub and platform.
We created a piece of technology that hotels and other suppliers could white label. They could have their own branding, colours, look and feel, but all based on the same underlying infrastructure.
That meant everyone benefited from a templated system that was already tried and tested but still had their own agile versions.
Q: The simplest ideas are often the best ideas. So how does it all work?
A: Travel agents join the hub and then choose which individual reward programs they want to participate in. Ultimately, they all belong to this wider family called My Booking Rewards.
We’re not a single rewards program – we’re a hub for reward programs. Agents benefit from a wide choice and suppliers benefit from immediate access to a ready-made global network of agents, rather than going out on their own and wondering, “Who do I tell about this?”
From the outset, we set our sights on being global and that’s the mission we’ve been working towards.
Q: It’s clearly been a successful journey.
A: Today we have around 150,000 agents worldwide, from the UK and Europe, then Canada down through North and South America and Latin America, all logging bookings, earning cash incentives and joining familiarisation trips.
On the supplier side, we have a strong base in the Caribbean due to my contracts background and we’re expanding into Europe and the Middle East, such as Dubai and the entire destination of Bahrain with their tourist board.
Q: And now Australia – but why now?
A: We’ve always known that Australia has a very similar culture and model when it comes to rewards so now seemed like the perfect time for a number of reasons.
Firstly, some of our existing suppliers have said, “We’re seeing Australians come to our properties and we’d like to build loyalty with them. Could you go and see the agents and encourage them?”
Secondly, our European agents, especially the British, have been very vocal. They sell Australia and New Zealand and have asked us, “Can you bring Australian suppliers into My Booking Rewards so we can build a relationship with those suppliers.”
A similar message has come from the west coast of the USA and Canada – agents in those markets are selling Australia and New Zealand and are keen on incentives and training programs to support that.
We’ve also had demand from Australian suppliers who want better access to a global network of agents. Add to that the fact we’re already well established in North and Latin America, and it becomes the natural next step.
Q: Tell me about My Agent Rates.
A: We have a complementary product called My Agent Rates, where only our qualified member agents can book net or best-possible “agent rates” for their own travel – almost like a paid familiarisation trip. Give them the best possible rate you can, because they’re your next sales ambassador and going to talk about you to their friends and their customers and sell you.
It makes perfect sense to include Australia in that, too, because British and other long-haul agents want to come here themselves, experience the product and then go home and sell it with confidence.
Q: In the short term, what is your main priority in Australia?
A: For the next three months, the big focus is on engaging suppliers with the agents we already have in our global network. It’s effectively a ‘tap’ that’s ready to be turned on.
We’re currently in high season but low season is around the corner and that’s when suppliers really need agents’ support to keep sales moving.
By onboarding now, we will warm the market up, build brand awareness and make some noise.
That’s a big part of what we do: build brand and product awareness for suppliers. We introduce them to the right agents, build presence and recognition and then they start to see the sales follow.
Q: I believe you’re offering a special promotion for suppliers?
A: Because we’re new in Australia and people don’t yet fully understand what My Booking Rewards is all about, we wanted to do something that shows real commitment to the market.
We’re offering three “Christmas presents” to suppliers, involving a free setup of a reward program on My Booking Rewards and then six months free on the platform so they can properly test it and see results.
The idea is that these three suppliers will use the platform with meaningful, cash-based rewards and then help tell the story of how My Booking Rewards worked for them.
# See below for details on the prize promotion and how to enter
Q: I know your initial focus is on suppliers but briefly, what’s In It for agents?
A: For agents it really is about earning more money for doing what they already do every day. Selling holidays!
They keep selling the products and destinations they believe in. The difference is that by logging those bookings with My Booking Rewards, they can earn cash incentives, participate in webinars, win random monthly prizes and potentially be selected for familiarisation trips.
In the longer term, as we onboard more Australian and New Zealand suppliers, we expect it to become a real win‑win for everybody.
Agents get more ways to earn and learn, all through a single login and single rewards bank.
Suppliers gain targeted exposure and a measurable way to stimulate sales without constantly cutting rates.
Q: Have you set any concrete goals for what you’d like to achieve in Australia?
A: We try not to get too hung up on absolute numbers, but of course we have some milestones in mind.
In the supplier space, onboarding four or five strong partners in the next few months would be a great start; 25 suppliers would be a dream.
On the agent side, we’d be delighted to see 1,000 Australian and New Zealand agents join relatively quickly, and 5,000 agents would be fantastic as the product range expands.
What really matters, though, is that both sides see tangible benefits:
Suppliers should notice an uplift in brand awareness and be able to control their sales stimulus without constantly eroding their average daily rate.
Agents should feel they’re earning more, learning more and selling with greater confidence – all from a platform that simplifies rather than complicates their working day.
If over the next six months we can look back and say we’ve created happy suppliers and happy agents in this market, then for us, that’s job done.
The prize incentive runs from now until December 19 with a random draw of all entrants to decide the three winners. Suppliers who would like to win one of the three prize packages should email Darren on darren@mybookingrewards.com Traveltalk will announce the winners on December 19.
