GWR Rewards

[prasa]

Anyone fully enrolled into the scheme or received an Invitation yet?

www.gwr.com/rewards

GWR Rewards and member tiers​

Everyone starts at the Bronze tier. Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers are determined by the points you earn during your membership year. The more journeys you take, the more points you collect, unlocking even greater rewards.

Membership tier	Points required	Rewards
Bronze	None	40% off your ticket (Booked as two GWR only Advance Single tickets) Free hot drink 10% off food and drink
Silver	50 points	Free Standard return ticket (Booked as two GWR only Advance Single tickets) One-off First Class lounge access 15% off food and drink
Gold	120 points	Free First Class return ticket (Booked as two GWR only Advance Single tickets) Full First Class lounge access 20% off food and drink 3 courses for 2 with Pullman Dining

Once you reach 120 points and qualify for Gold tier, your points will be capped. You will not earn any additional points beyond this threshold.


Your points reset each year on the anniversary of your enrolment into GWR Rewards. When you earn enough points for the next tier, you are automatically upgraded. Your new tier is kept for the rest of that year and the full following membership year.

Seems quite a strongish scheme versus LNER.

I need to analyse whether I should give up on the Uber credit, as I don't live close to first class lounges to take advantage.

 

[bcarmicle]

The Terms say that you only earn points on journeys where GWR are the primary TOC, and to get Gold, you need to spend £60 on six different days every year, excluding Seasons, Flexi Seasons, and Rangers/Rovers.

 

[Adam Williams]

I thought the "Gold" full 1st class lounge access was a neat benefit, but you do need a GWR ticket to be permitted to use it on the day. It doesn't say it needs to be a ticket from the station where the lounge is - so a Tewkesbury Bus to Aschurch single for 60p should do nicely (and if you don't think that counts, I'll go for a Carbis Bay to Lelant single at 70p instead), in which case it's effectively a central LDN co-working pass for £360 a year => £30 a month, plus £0.60 a day - provided the 2 hour max duration isn't strictly enforced.

 

[gravey]

Seems fine. I travel on GWR for work a lot so will be able to hit gold quite quickly. The cashback that Amex/others offer on tickets would be worth more than the points but if there are no cashback offers then ordering through GWR for the rewards will be good enough.

 

[Essexman]

Interesting.
i spend about £3,000 a year with GWR, mostly in First Class off peak returns at about £200.
A free return with advances will be welcome but I’ll have to switch back to buying tickets from GWR. I’ve recently been buying through the forum to support it and make use of seat selection.
Seems strange to cap points at £70. I would build up points quicker buying two advance singles on different days than the open return.

 

[DMU180]

Seems like a First Group rinse and repeat of Club Avanti…

 

[A S Leib]

An interesting contrast to Avanti, going with price rather than distance. Avanti already has (in my experience) much cheaper advance tickets of qualifying lengths from Carlisle to Preston or Glasgow than from London, Watford or Milton Keynes to the first qualifying stations (I think Birmingham New Street from Watford Junction and Stafford or Crewe being the first over the 75 mile mark from Milton Keynes*), and that would presumably need to be handled differently for GWR given that they're not a purely intercity TOC and I think a similar issue would appear between Exeter and Penzance at the very least.

*Having checked, it's Stafford from Milton Keynes Central whether going via the Trent Valley or Birmingham, Coventry or Nuneaton from Watford Junction, and any Avanti journey except to / from Milton Keynes or Northampton if involving Euston.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Mar 2025 ==

It doesn't specify whether the 40% discount for bronze can be combined with railcards, although at least the discount offered is higher than (most) railcards even if it can't.

 

[Mainline421]

Actually looks like quite a good scheme, would probably be enough to sway me from Uber if GWR were my local TOC.

 

[styles]

More akin to Club Avanti than LNER Rewards.

I can imagine the 40% off your first ticket being a route to fraud though. The Ts&Cs say one membership account per person, but that won't stop people creating new accounts, possibly with fake names, every time they want 40% off their ticket.

The only slightly annoying thing for me is that if I was booking a return journey where the total fare came to £60-69.99, I'd be better off booking the outbound and return on separate days to get 2x10 points, instead of 1x10 points. Why not have the 10 point range be £35-69.99 or the 20 point range £60+?

Other than that it all looks decent to me.

Looks to be much quicker to get your rewards than with Avanti. I don't travel with GWR very often being so far north now, but 3 courses for 2 Pullman dining after basically 6 return journeys is a bargain.

 

[infobleep]

This is interesting. Given the government take the revenue risk, what is the benefit to GWR doing this? What is the benefit to them of limiting it to only stations served by their trains at the start and finish and not any train or just making it start or end at one of their stations?

Do the Department for Transport reward train operating companies who grow their internal business, I. E. business that doesn't interact with other TOCs?

I don't often spend over £30 a day and whilst a lot of my journeys start at a station served by GWR, they finish at a station not served by them? Most of the journeys I take don't involve using just one TOCs.

 

[superalbs]

As the British Airways Executive Club dies, the GWR Rewards is born...

 

[styles]

This is interesting. Given the government take the revenue risk, what is the benefit to GWR doing this? What is the benefit to them of limiting it to only stations served by their trains at the start and finish and not any train or just making it start or end at one of their stations?

Do the Department for Transport reward train operating companies who grow their internal business, I. E. business that doesn't interact with other TOCs?

I don't often spend over £30 a day and whilst a lot of my journeys start at a station served by GWR, they finish at a station not served by them? Most of the journeys I take don't involve using just one TOCs.

I expect (but don't know), that while the franchise income will remain static, this is a commercial risk taken on the 'rest of business'. By restricting the rewards to people who book direct, they'll earn more from sales when people might otherwise book with e.g. Trainline, and they'll hope to encourage people onto GWR services instead of other operators on the same routes or car/bus journeys between the same points. If they make a loss, that's a 'them' problem.

My guess is that once the trial is over they'll drop the 40% off your first train ticket element.

Offering free tickets doesn't really "cost" anything and if the passengers are like me, may well be used for a leisure travel journey which otherwise wouldn't have been made anyway. I take trips down to London on my Club Avanti free journeys which in all honesty I might not otherwise. Not that I don't want to see pals down south, but normally the cost means we're more likely to meet in the "middle" somewhere, and I'll not be travelling by Avanti anyway.

 

[Watershed]

As the British Airways Executive Club dies, the GWR Rewards is born...

The wording does seem suspiciously similar. I wonder if Mark Hopwood, who is known to be a keen flyer, had a hand in this...

 

[AlterEgo]

The wording does seem suspiciously similar. I wonder if Mark Hopwood, who is known to be a keen flyer, had a hand in this...

Absolutely a Hoppy project. Would stake a BA Gold card on it

 

[Watershed]

Absolutely a Hoppy project. Would stake a BA Gold card on it

You really do put your money (£25k worth) where your mouth is, don't you

 

[AlterEgo]

You really do put your money (£25k worth) where your mouth is, don't you

*My* gold card didn’t cost that

 

[infobleep]

I expect (but don't know), that while the franchise income will remain static, this is a commercial risk taken on the 'rest of business'. By restricting the rewards to people who book direct, they'll earn more from sales when people might otherwise book with e.g. Trainline, and they'll hope to encourage people onto GWR services instead of other operators on the same routes or car/bus journeys between the same points. If they make a loss, that's a 'them' problem.

My guess is that once the trial is over they'll drop the 40% off your first train ticket element.

Offering free tickets doesn't really "cost" anything and if the passengers are like me, may well be used for a leisure travel journey which otherwise wouldn't have been made anyway. I take trips down to London on my Club Avanti free journeys which in all honesty I might not otherwise. Not that I don't want to see pals down south, but normally the cost means we're more likely to meet in the "middle" somewhere, and I'll not be travelling by Avanti anyway.

What profit do GWR made from this themselves?

 

[TimWebb]

I signed up for this and attempted to claim the 40% discount, but I noticed a discrepancy between the advertised benefit (40% off a single advanced return) and the Terms and Conditions (6.1 Upon joining GWR Rewards, you will receive a one-time 40% discount code on a return journey with GWR booked in Standard Class). I have contacted GWR requesting a resolution.

 

[RPI]

What profit do GWR made from this themselves?

I suspect that they get some form of incentive from the DfT to increase revenue, but that's a guess

 

[WelshBluebird]

The Terms say that you only earn points on journeys where GWR are the primary TOC,

It's actually more closed than that - "Travel must be between two stations served by GWR on services operated by GWR" and "used by you between two stations served by GWR, on services operated by GWR.".

So even a booking that has a short connecting hop, like Swindon to Cardiff Bay, where the journey is nearly all with GWR, wouldn't count.

 

[infobleep]

I suspect that they get some form of incentive from the DfT to increase revenue, but that's a guess

Is the incentivd to solely increase revenue within there network and/or starions they manage?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Apr 2025 ==

The reason I wonder this is that we are moving to a nationalist rail system and as of now the companies get management fees.lbinstesd if taking the revenue risk

So to run a scheme like this, seems at odds with all of that.

If they were a private firm who took the revenue risk, I could understand it more, given they are competing against other private companies.

 

[styles]

Is the incentivd to solely increase revenue within there network and/or starions they manage?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Apr 2025 ==

The reason I wonder this is that we are moving to a nationalist rail system and as of now the companies get management fees.lbinstesd if taking the revenue risk

So to run a scheme like this, seems at odds with all of that.

If they were a private firm who took the revenue risk, I could understand it more, given they are competing against other private companies.

We are moving to a nationalised system for operators, but if I remember rightly the GWR franchise runs until summer 2028? Can't put every commercial idea a TOC has on hold for half a decade because in the future they'll be taken over.

 

[Benjwri]

We are moving to a nationalised system for operators, but if I remember rightly the GWR franchise runs until summer 2028? Can't put every commercial idea a TOC has on hold for half a decade because in the future they'll be taken over.

GWR contract ends in June 2025 at the earliest. Any time after that it can be taken into public ownership, just with the correct notice period. It’s more a question of how quickly OLR can scale their resources to handle new TOCs

 

[styles]

GWR contract ends in June 2025 at the earliest. Any time after that it can be taken into public ownership, just with the correct notice period. It’s more a question of how quickly OLR can scale their resources to handle new TOCs

It was awarded a direct contract until 2028: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-greater-western-2022-rail-contract

The rail contract between the Secretary of State for Transport and First Greater Western Limited, dated 14 June 2022, which ends on the expiry date of 25 June 2028.

Will there even be an 'OLR' in 2028, or will it just be 'GBR'?

 

[Benjwri]

It was awarded a direct contract until 2028: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-greater-western-2022-rail-contract



Will there even be an 'OLR' in 2028, or will it just be 'GBR'?

No offence intended, but maybe read stuff before you post it. As per clause 2.2(a), the Secretary of State can terminate the contract without penalty once the ‘Core Term Expiry Date’ has passed, as long as 3 reporting periods notice is given.

The ‘Core Term Expiry Date’ is defined by the contract as 22nd June 2025. Hence the earliest the contract can expire is that date. It can be extended, by not giving such notice, until the ‘Expiry Date’, which is 25th June 2028, without having to award another contract.

This is exactly how Greater Anglia is being brought into OLR, with an Expiry Date of 2026, but the notice of termination after the core term expiry date, back in 2024, being used to bring it in before then.

 

[JamesT]

We are moving to a nationalised system for operators, but if I remember rightly the GWR franchise runs until summer 2028? Can't put every commercial idea a TOC has on hold for half a decade because in the future they'll be taken over.

The old franchises all died with Covid. The National Rail Contract which you linked to in another post is a management contract with all revenue risk falling on the DfT.
So from the point of view of the TOCs being independent entities that can make their own commercial decisions, nationalisation effectively already happened. The NRC does mention there being a component of the performance bonus being for finances and says revenue growth is part of that, but everything will have been agreed with the DfT in the business case.

 

[mrmartin]

Interesting scheme. My partner travels very regularly on GWR and would quickly hit 'gold'. Have they thought this through though - there are 1000s (or more?) of people that will be eligible for gold quickly. Is the first class lounge going to be able to cope with that many people? I noticed it on hotukdeals so it is definitely getting known about outside of enthusiasts like us!

Am I right in thinking you get a free ticket each year, or is it just one off?

 

[aar0]

On joining bronze you get a “40% off your next trip (Discount valid when buying GWR only Advance Single tickets)” code. I am buying an advance ticket on GWR for Cardiff to London, a route only they offer, and on one of their trains, and it doesn’t work. Initially in a basket of several tickets (I’m splitting) it was refused as I was using it wrong, now it says I’m not meeting the promotion criteria… has anyone had success with the discount?

 

[317362]

The bronze discount only works I think with a one person, one single/return journey GWR point to point in the basket, I was booking that and something else, it failed, took the something else out and it went though.

 

[GWR Traveller]

I signed up for this and attempted to claim the 40% discount, but I noticed a discrepancy between the advertised benefit (40% off a single advanced return) and the Terms and Conditions (6.1 Upon joining GWR Rewards, you will receive a one-time 40% discount code on a return journey with GWR booked in Standard Class). I have contacted GWR requesting a resolution.

Did you ever get a reply? I'm having issues with the rewards. My first 5 bookings registered my 10 points each taking me into silver (50 points) from bronze and I got a 40% discount code. However it would not apply as it says my email address isn't valid (???) and I've been trying to get help from GWR for weeks now, but it's not working. Also my bookings have stopped logging points. We must have exchanged 20 emails and had a call but they cannot seem to fix this. So disappointing.