The hottest new customer perks

By Christopher Solomon

Have you noticed that customer perks are getting sweeter?

We're not just talking about frequent-flier miles anymore. Think reserved parking at baseball games and concerts if you own a Lexus. Or exclusive invitations to "red carpet" events at your favorite store.

Perks -- those special benefits stores use to win your devotion -- are hardly new. But they're changing, says Reinier Evers, the founder of Trendwatching.com, which scouts for global trends.

"Old perks were very much about collecting points to get 'stuff' for less or even for free," Evers says. But those programs often got complicated and confusing. It felt at times as if the companies were pulling a fast one on you.

The new perks are different. They're all about making you feel special in all sorts of ways, from reserved parking spots to hard-to-get concert tickets to the use of luxury restrooms at festivals. They're designed to make your time-pressured life easier.

Low prices are good. But a feeling that you're a VIP -- well, that's hard to put a price on, Evers says.

Here are some of the best and most intriguing perks we've found out there, chased by advice about how to track down the good ones.

Status

We used to want to keep up with the Joneses, but these days, Evers says, we crave experiences that set us apart. Here are some cool examples of "exclusives" that companies offer when you own or use their products:

• A designer dress. Under a special arrangement, only American Express cardholders are able to buy the winning dress that was featured on the Sept. 3 episode of Bravo TV's "Project Runway." The limited-edition gown is sold for $650 through designer Diane von Furstenberg's Web site.

• Your own "island." Island Lincoln Mercury Land Rover & Jaguar in Merritt Island, Fla., goes far beyond a free loaner car for people who buy cars there. Owners get access to a whole community of facilities: a theater, a state-of-the-art health club, an 1890s-style barbershop, a play area and video arcade for kids, the Tiki Grill restaurant, and high-speed Web access and free coffee at "Carbucks" cafe. The dealership also owns a gas station that sells fuel to car buyers at cost. Access is for as long as you own your car.

• A talk with the coach. The New England Patriots now offer a credit card, Patriots Extra Points, that users can use to earn and redeem points not just for team jerseys but exclusive experiences such as hourlong talks with Patriots coach Bill Belichick or a kicking clinic in the stadium from a Pats place-kicker. Other credit cards in that vein: Unique Experiences from MasterCard, Membership Rewards from American Express and the Signature card from Visa.

• Easy parking. Luxury automaker Lexus offers reserved lots close to certain stadiums for its car owners, as well as free valet parking at some shopping malls.

• Exclusive invitations. Nordstrom's four-tier Fashion Rewards program gives loyal customers access to perks ranging from free shipping and alterations to invitations to designer previews (that's for the top-tier customers, who charge $20,000 or more annually on a Nordstrom card).

Convenience

Pushed for time? These perks tap into your quest to find more minutes in the day:

• Glide right through. The Washington Redskins football team offers fans fast-card access through larger airports and through the 92,000-seat FedExField. The $100 Redskins Fast Lane card also offers cardholder discounts at official Redskins stores.

• Forget the portable toilets. Holders of the Visa Signature card get some unusual perks. At this summer's Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in San Francisco, Evers reports, these preferred Visa customers could use private luxury restrooms, which were much nicer than the portable toilets otherwise available.

Empathy

If you want to feel just a little more loved when you're out running errands, companies offer that, too:

• Parking just for you. Retailer Babies R Us has offered so-called Stork Parking -- spots close to the entrance so that expectant mothers won't have to walk far -- since its first store opened in Westbury, N.Y., several years ago. And for customers who drive hybrids, furniture retailer Ikea has since mid-2007 been reserving "green spaces" at the front of its massive parking lots, a spokeswoman says.

• Wash your car with a deposit, ma'am? Glacier Bancorp -- a bank with branches in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington state and Utah -- recently gave out car-washing kits to folks who opened new accounts. But it didn't stop there. Several branches had tellers and other employees outside washing cars, too.

It works, says Gordon Abram, the chief operating officer of RMS, a marketing consulting company to banks ("We're the original toaster company to banks," he says). "Our client base in general tends to open about twice as many accounts" as banks that don't offer such perks, he says.

Continued: Concierge services

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