What hotel chains are doing to increase guest loyalty

NATIONAL REPORT -- The battle for loyalty is heating up in the hotel industry, as major chains roll out new partnerships and membership perks and smaller players make waves with alternative models.

The push comes at a time when loyalty program participation is surging. According to a Phocuswright report released in December titled “Playing Favorites: What Makes a Go-To Brand in Travel, and Why Do Customers Stray?” Fully, 52% of leisure travelers had some form of redemption on their most recent trip.

Yet according to Madeline List, manager of research and special projects at Phocuswright, loyalty program members are surprisingly disloyal: Phocuswright’s research indicated that while 42% of leisure travelers said they had go-to accommodation brands, 63% of those with a favorite brand still used an alternative in their past 12 months of travel.

“People might have earning goals that they hold on to, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that then they’re going to be long-term, consistent users of a brand, because they are still hopping around according to what really meets their needs in terms of travel products for any given trip,” said List. “As soon as their favorite brand isn’t working well for them, they’ll just go to the next one to find the best product fit.

In other words, competition for their business is increasingly cutthroat — or innovative, depending on how you look at it.

Marriott International, which has long offered its roughly 260 million Marriott Bonvoy members access to experiences via its Moments platform, is leaning further into what chief customer officer Peggy Roe calls “passion points” that range from music or sports experiences to culinary and outdoor programs. More recently, the company has been testing experiences that appeal to members across tiers, going beyond traditional bucket-list events that often require hundreds of thousands of points.

Singer-songwriter Alex Warren partnered with Marriott Bonvoy and Starbucks on a private one-day concert. (Credit: Starbucks)

This fall, Bonvoy partnered with Starbucks to host a private concert in New York with up-and-coming musician Alex Warren, offering everything from “one-point drops” that granted members event access for just one Marriott Bonvoy point to premium packages with rooms that were auctioned off.

“We wanted to do something with an emerging artist,” said Roe. “And we varied the audience type. We wanted to get more young people to come into the portfolio, but we also want people who burn points after a long time to feel rewarded.”

Marriott’s “passion point” focus also extends to the great outdoors, with the company launching the Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy this fall. The collection showcases nature-focused brands like Postcard Cabins as well as other Marriott properties with access to activities like skiing and hiking.

Roe cited post-pandemic research indicating that “around 80-something percent of people said that they’re planning at least one trip in the outdoors.”

“And they said they’d be even more likely to do so if they could have a bed and a bathroom,” she added.

Among Hilton’s latest loyalty moves is a partnership with the luxury cruise line Explora Journeys, with Hilton Honors members able to earn and redeem points on cruises starting next summer. The tie-up joins a new Hilton Honors offshoot called Hilton Honors Adventures, which showcases not only Explora Journeys but Hilton’s partnership with AutoCamp, an outdoor lodging brand best known for its luxury Airstream trailer accommodations.

Not every trip is created equal, and an upgrade on one trip can be worth much more to people than an upgrade on another trip.

Chris Silcock

“This is the next step, giving [members] access to other ways to stay and other travel and adventure experiences,” said Chris Silcock, president of global brands and commercial services at Hilton.

Hilton, which has grown Hilton Honors to over 230 million members, has concurrently revamped its tier structure, lowering the requirements for Gold and Diamond status while introducing a top-tier Diamond Reserve level that requires 80 nights and $18,000 in annual spending.

Hilton Honors is also expanding its automated advance upgrade notification system, which debuted in 2021, addressing what Silcock described as a “key anxiety point” for members. Eventually, Hilton Honors plans to launch “confirmable upgrades” that would enable members to choose which trips they want to secure upgrades for rather than leaving it to chance.

“Not every trip is created equal, and an upgrade on one trip can be worth much more to people than an upgrade on another trip,” Silcock said.

Smaller players, meanwhile, are putting their own spin on traditional loyalty models.

Starwood’s 1 Hotels brand introduced its Mission Membership in December, rejecting the usual points-based system and focusing instead on environmental impact.

For every qualifying Mission Membership stay, 1% of spend is donated to one of three environmental nonprofits, and for every new member who joins the program, 1 Hotels plants a tree through its partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation. Members also receive benefits like upgrades and late checkout based on frequency rather than tier status.

Journey specializes in independent hotels

Journey, a loyalty concept launched by John Sutton in 2024, is taking a different tack from brand- or company-specific programs by building a network of independent hotels and promising them a program with the large-scale data capabilities typically available to major chains.

Journey’s business model also differs from most in that hotels only pay Journey a cut when members book stays through the platform. Additionally, Journey pays hotels the equivalent of the best available rate for point redemptions and suite upgrades, which, for guests, means no restrictions on when they can redeem points as well as the ability to guarantee a confirmed upgrade ahead of check-in.

Sutton, whose background includes leadership roles at digital media giant Red Ventures, said his inspiration for Journey came while staying at boutique properties.

They can see what the user has shared with us, and we try to synthesize and summarize it for these busy people to take action on it.

John Sutton

“My best experiences were at the places where they started to get to know you,” said Sutton. “They knew you by name, they knew the kids’ names, all those types of things,” he said.

The startup has backing from Brian Kelly, founder of the travel media platform The Points Guy, which is owned by Red Ventures. Kelly serves as an investor and senior advisor for Journey.

Journey has more than 1,500 properties within its fold, with these properties sharing guest preferences across the network to better personalize stays. Journey provides hotel staff access to these “guest insights.”

“They can see what the user has shared with us, and we try to synthesize and summarize it for these busy people to take action on it,” said Sutton.

Sutton said he hopes Journey will eventually extend beyond hotels and build loyalty through status and access rather than points transactions. He pointed to the fact that, early on, if a business accepted American Express, “it meant something special about your establishment.”

“And we want the Journey logo to feel the same for travelers,” said Sutton.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story first appeared in Travel Weekly.

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