To mark the first birthday of its award winning loyalty program, Velocity announced the launch of four new Velocity Partners along with a 3,000,000* (terms & conditions apply) Points giveaway competition to thank Members for their support over the last year.

The new partners, Toga Hospitality (incorporating Medina Apartment Hotels, Vibe Hotels and Travelodge Hotels), The Wine Room (from Cellarmaster Wines), Octopus Travel, and Blue Tix provide Velocity Members with wide ranging opportunities to earn Velocity Points on a variety of spend activities including hotels, liquor and event ticketing.

In the lead up to its anniversary, Velocity also launched the massive Points giveaway competition to be drawn at the end of November, giving Members the chance to win one of seven Points packages worth between 250,000 and 1,000,000 Points.

Announcing the new partners, Virgin Blue Chief Executive, Brett Godfrey, said, "We are delighted Velocity has been well received in just 12 months. When we launched Velocity we promised there would be no such thing as blackouts, and that every seat on any Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue or Polynesian Blue flight, every day of the year would be available for redemption.

"To date one of the most pleasing aspects of the program has been the number of Members who have been able to redeem flights. Our redemption volumes are running significantly higher than our projections and we're very happy about that. It proves that we are returning loyalty easily to our Members and that's what a loyalty program should be all about.

"Like Virgin Blue, Toga Hospitality, The Wine Room, Octopus Travel and Blue Tix are service oriented companies with high quality products and we are pleased to have them join us in Velocity and to help add further value for our Members," he said.

Toga Hospitality operates 41 strategically located hotels and apartment hotels throughout Australia under the Medina, Vibe and Travelodge brands. These brands cover the accommodation requirements of all travellers, from up-market apartment hotels (Medina) to stylish, mid-range hotels (Vibe) to the well-equipped, great value (Travelodge). Velocity Members will be able to redeem their Points for stays at any of these properties.

The Wine Room is part of Cellarmaster Wines and is Australia's largest direct-seller of wine. Not only will Members have access to great products at great prices, they will also earn Velocity Points when making their purchases with an exclusive Triple Points offer available for Velocity Members to celebrate the new partnership and Velocity's first birthday.

Octopus Travel is an online accommodation provider that shows real time hotel availability for over 20,000 hotels and 3,000 apartments in 3,300 cities and 129 countries. So whether it's five star luxury accommodation, apartment style, budget or last minute, Octopus Travel will have what Velocity Members want.

Blue Tix is the exclusive entertainment, event ticketing brand for Virgin Blue and Velocity offering Velocity Members a range of entertainment tickets and packages including theatre, movies, events and concerts. Visit Blue Tix interactive online for a broad range of last minute, best in-house and 'hard to get' tickets.

The new partners join the ever-expanding range of Velocity Partners including National Australia Bank, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Hawaiian Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Europcar and Choice Hotels Australasia. To find out more about the program and the new Velocity partnerships, visit www.velocityrewards.com.au.