The news is out! DayAway is evolving from a public marketplace into a members-only loyalty program for luxury hotel and lifestyle experiences.

We caught up with our Founder, Martha Waslen, to go into more detail about the DayAway membership and this exciting new chapter. 

DayAway is now a membership and loyalty program. What led to this decision?

We want to create a shared space for like-minded travel, experience and wellness enthusiasts to be rewarded for doing what they love. 

But mostly, this new membership and loyalty program exists because we’ve been listening to the personal needs of our community. 

From our conversations, one thing has been abundantly clear—travel memberships and loyalty programs are in desperate need of modernisation. And that’s exactly what we’re building.

What are some of the frustrations your community has voiced about their current travel memberships?

One of the most common frustrations is that they have to manage multiple memberships for multiple hotels, airlines and experiences. This is not only effortful, it’s also more challenging to accrue enough loyalty points to unlock the top-tier benefits with each provider.

Why is it more challenging? Because we all want variety and flexibility around point redemption. Right now, guests are put in a position where they can either return to the same hotel group and build their loyalty status, or they can experience something different, but lose out on those loyalty points. 

Lastly, expiration dates. We’ve heard stories from people who spent years building loyalty points and then COVID happened, they couldn’t travel, and all of their points disappeared. This happens all the time, not just during a global pandemic! Something has to change. 

So, how have these conversations influenced the new DayAway membership and loyalty program? 

Our community made us realise that the platform we’ve been developing all along, is a solid foundation for a membership to be built upon. 

For starters, we partner with incredible hotels and lifestyle experience providers across multiple countries. With DayAway, you can access all of these wonderful experiences from the likes of Raffles Hotel and Waldorf Astoria with just one membership. 

And with the DayAway membership, you can build your loyalty status with all of them? 

Exactly! This makes it easier than ever to unlock even more benefits on the DayAway platform. 

Most importantly, you get variety with a DayAway membership. On Wednesday, you could be working on your passion projects from the Executive Lounge at Maxwell Reserve, and on Sunday, you could be island hopping with up to 10 of your friends on a private yacht. There’s no more choosing between experiencing something different and building your loyalty status. With DayAway, you get both. 

How are you addressing loyalty point expiration dates with the DayAway membership?

With our Founder’s Key NFT membership (and any of our future NFT memberships) there are no such thing as loyalty points and therefore, no such thing as loyalty point expiration dates. You get immediate rewards without having to “earn” them (which can take a while with a traditional points system). As your Founder’s Key exists on the blockchain, your rewards and benefits become a salable, tradable asset. In the future, you can transfer your Founder’s Key (with all its accrued benefits) to a loved one, or sell it at your leisure. For the first time ever, a travel membership can be a form of investment. 

In the future, I believe every membership will be built on the blockchain. 

Right now, you’re also building a platform that makes it easier for concierges, travel advisors and destination management companies to book experiences for their clients. What does this mean for DayAway members? 

There is an entire universe of unbelievable experiences that exist in the minds and desks of local travel specialists. A lot of them aren’t online because of old systems that make it difficult for them to track and earn commission on their bookings. Our platform is going to completely revolutionise this. 

As we speak, we’re onboarding concierges, travel advisors and destination management companies across the world who are opening their little black books on DayAway. I can’t give away too much quite yet, but we’re talking tours of private art collections, tastings in private wine cellars and even a tea making ceremony hosted by a family in Japan with a 200 year-old recipe. Our members will be able to access them all. 

I’ve been saying that the DayAway membership is like a membership with 5-star service. We’re curating these unforgettable experiences from all corners of the world and making them available to our members in one, easy-to-use platform. We’re also vetting those experiences to ensure they meet the high standard that our members expect from DayAway. And on top of that, we’re giving our members personal recommendations based on what they want from their experience. It’s going to be amazing. 

So, how can someone become a member of DayAway? 

I mentioned our Founder’s Key NFT. There are just 500 available and it’s the most exclusive membership that we will ever release. You get a lifetime membership to DayAway with ever-expanding benefits and utilities. 

Then, there’s our classic annual membership, which grants you access to all of these incredible luxury hotel and lifestyle experiences. All of our guests who have booked through DayAway in the past will receive a free DayAway annual membership for 2023 (valued at USD$500/year). 

We’re also working with corporate partners across Web2 and Web3 who will offer DayAway memberships as a perk and incentive to a global network of their most valued members. There’s more to come on that soon. 

And finally, what are you most excited about? 

I’m really excited about our new lifestyle experiences and giving our members this personalised, concierge-level service. But most of all, I’m excited about the Founder’s Key and our Web3 projects. My head is buzzing with ideas! I’m forever grateful that our community believes in what I have envisioned for DayAway, and I’ll continue to work hard and create kick-ass experiences that our members love!