American Express launches online travel community

April 24, 2008 | Online Travel

American Express launched membersknow.com, an online travel community for American Express Cardmembers to share travel insights from their personal travel experiences and knowledge.

American Express Cardmembers—who are more than 90% more likely to travel frequently and abroad than those who are not Cardmembers(1)—can not only guide each other with meaningful travel advice, but also correspond with editors from Travel + Leisure magazine, owned by American Express Publishing Corporation. These editors will introduce new topics for discussion about the latest travel trends and hidden gems and also respond to Cardmember questions with expert advice. Members Know is a part of the American Express ‘Are You a Cardmember’(R) brand campaign which highlights the value of membership and being a part of the American Express Cardmember community.

“Our Cardmembers are passionate about travel and they are drawn to new, unique and memorable travel experiences. Collectively, they have a great wealth of knowledge and a strong desire to connect and learn from other Cardmembers,” said Bonnie Taffer, Vice President, Alliances and Content, American Express. “Through Members Know, our Cardmembers can exchange valuable ‘insider’ information that will enable them to create fabulous travel experiences in the future.”

In addition to the dynamic community conversations on Members Know, Cardmembers have access to the latest trend information on where Cardmembers are staying and where they are eating in cities around the world. They can search for the most popular hotels and restaurants and sort by neighborhood or category. There is a broad range of categories of cuisines including American, Mediterranean, African and Japanese. Hotel categories include bed & breakfast, economy, moderate and upscale.

Members Know Feature Highlights

Cardmembers can either start their own conversation by posting a question about a specific location, hotel, resort or restaurant, or join an ongoing conversation by replying with insight or commentary based on their own knowledge and first-hand experiences.

In addition to the Cardmember conversations, Members Know has variety of unique content and features:

- Talk with Travel Experts - Editors from Travel + Leisure, published by American Express Publishing, will host conversations on four different travel topics every week ranging from the world’s coolest resort wear to great American spa destinations. Through this feature, Cardmembers will be able to dialogue directly with editors by asking questions and providing commentary within a conversation.

- Cardmember Favorites - Cardmembers can search through a list of cities from around the world to see the most popular hotels and restaurants frequented by Cardmembers. Restaurants can be sorted by neighborhood or cuisines such as American, French and Japanese. Hotels can be sorted by neighborhood or category such as bed & breakfast, luxury and economy.

- Local Favorites - Every week the Members Know homepage will feature a top ten list based on how Cardmembers are using their Cards. The list topics will include popular restaurants, hotels, shopping and activities such as golf and spa in locales across the world.

- Poll of the Week - By answering the Poll of the Week questions, Cardmembers can express their opinions on a range of travel topics. Users can then view results to see how their answer compares to the rest of the Members Know Cardmember community.

- Cardmember Exclusives - Members Know will feature offers exclusive to American Express Cardmembers such as spa getaways, U.S. Open tennis tickets and subscriptions to Travel + Leisure.

- Link to Book - A link to American Express Travel at americanexpress.com/travel enables Cardmembers to book exclusive travel deals and offers and to get in touch with American Express Travel specialists.

In the coming months, American Express has plans to further enhance Members Know with the addition of several new functions and features:

- After reading other Cardmember reviews on a restaurant, users will be able to make reservations at that restaurant online directly through Members Know.

- New cities will be added to Cardmember Favorites.

- Cardmembers will be able to remain up-to-date on their favorite conversations through e-mail alerts.

- Users will have the ability to save conversations onto their homepage for easy access during future visits to the site.

- Cardmembers will be able to choose favorite cities and monitor conversations on those particular cities through a specially designated space.

- With a new “tell-a-friend” feature, Cardmembers will be able to invite other Cardmembers to join Members Know directly from the site.

- Day passes will allow non-Cardmember to experience Members Know for a limited time period and tap their insights and experiences.

- In addition to the Travel + Leisure topical discussions, articles and features from travel writers at Travel + Leisure and Lonely Planet will be featured on Members Know as a supplement to the Cardmember posted content.

Related Link: American Express Members Know