Byline: Andrea McKenna
Visa Inc. has launched a card program in Latin America that offers luxury hotel deals and other perks designed for affluent consumers, the company announced Jan. 21.
Visa will add the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection benefits platform to its Visa Platinum, Signature and Infinite card programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, Ricardo Tafur, Visa's head of affluent products in the region, tells PaymentSource.
The Luxury Hotel Collection program offers premium cardholders access to the best available rates, room upgrades, VIP guest status, valet parking, Internet access, food and beverage vouchers, complimentary breakfast and late-checkout privileges.
Holders of the cards participating in the Luxury Hotel Collection benefits platform can find and book hotel deals through a dedicated website. Though cardholders must be premium Visa cardholders to access the website, they do not need to prepay for their selections, Visa said in a press release.
Premium cardholders rank travel benefits among the most important perks of a card program, Tafur says. In a 2009 survey of 350 affluent consumers and business travelers from 11 countries, 53% of respondents said complimentary room updates were important, while 51% wanted free Internet access. The respondents had annual incomes of more than $150,000.
Visa issuers often market card products to affluent consumers through bank branches, as well as mass-marketing campaigns, although the Infinite card is by invitation only, Tafur says.
Visa issuers in Latin America and the Caribbean tend to promote their platinum cards to younger consumers, typically in their 30s, and their marketing often is designed to lure them to branches to sign up for premium products, he says
The affluent market accounts for about 10% of most markets in the Latin America and Caribbean region, Tafur says. And Latin America overall has been a strong growth area for Visa (see story). http://www.paymentssource.com/news/visa-sets-sights-on-international-growth-3003813-1.html
During a conference call in October to discuss fiscal fourth quarter earnings, Visa CEO Joseph Saunders noted the card brand's emphasis on programs to accelerate growth in key markets around the world, beginning with Brazil, Russia and the Middle East.
"We are also shifting market resources to place increased emphasis on key non-U.S. geographies," he said. "In fiscal 2011, we will invest upwards of 60% of Visa's marketing expense on markets outside of the United States, where we are focused on driving growth in the affluent segment and debit at the point of sale."
During the quarter, Latin America represented Visa's second-fastest growing region globally based on spending volume. Visa credit and card spending in the region grew by 25.5%, to $69 billion from $55 billion.
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