Yet the top hotel chains have also rec-
ognised that their traditional approach to earning the loyalty of frequent guests is losing traction. Rumbles of discontent about hotel programmes being both confusing and too demanding in their redemption rules have gathered pace over the past few years. At the same time, guest demographics
are changing and, unsurprisingly, it is the rising millennial cohort who are fuelling the remake. A recent survey of more than 25,000 people across 33 countries by con- sultancy firm Accenture, entitled Seeing Beyond the Loyalty Illusion, suggested that millennials were more demanding and less loyal than any other group, especially as part of the ‘always-connected’ generation. Marriott has estimated that millennials will be its key customer base in the next decade. “Millennials were also more likely to
have switched hotel providers in the previ- ous six months,” points out Umar Riaz, a managing director in Accenture’s Travel Industry practice in the US, adding that hoteliers should urgently seek “to curb this switching behaviour”.
CHAINS UP THE GAME Some of the big chains have recently been doing exactly that. Earlier this year Hilton revamped its long-standing loyalty scheme HHonors – dropping the clunky double-H and renaming it Hilton Honors. The hotelier, in case you missed it, also decided at the same time to rebrand itself as just Hilton rather than its previous nomenclature, Hilton Worldwide. Hilton’s reboot of its Honors programme addressed one common criticism of such schemes – that it takes too long to actually gain any rewards – by allowing members to choose a combination of points and money for a stay or other reward in the programme. Helpfully, a new app on its website enables members to calculate what combination of both they will need to secure a room night or reward. Among the other benefits of the re- vamped scheme are allowing members (in the US only at present) to use their points to purchase products on
Amazon.com. The new programme also addresses the issue of a temporary change of circumstances – such as following the birth of a child, illness or job switch – and allows elite ‘Diamond’ members in the scheme to put on hold their special reward status for a year.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
“The public sector is very policy driven, but many private sector programmes are more relaxed”
“By offering these new benefits, we’re unlocking 15 billion Honors points across the system,” says Mark Weinstein, a senior vice-president and global head of the loyalty programme. Hilton’s rivals have also been revamping
their own programmes this year. Choice Hotels, for example, has partly focused on giving its guests more immediate and frequent rewards, including discounts on petrol and credit with Amazon and Uber, for those in its Choice Privileges programme. This recently won it a special ‘Freddie Award’ – named after aviation entrepreneur Sir Freddie Laker – from European frequent travellers for the best ‘up-and-coming’ hotel loyalty scheme in Europe and Africa.
‘SOFT’ REWARDS Hyatt, meanwhile, replaced its long-standing and award-winning Gold Passport loyalty scheme with ‘World of Hyatt’, unashamedly designed to appeal to sophisticated, high- end frequent travellers. It is extending its previous two elite tiers to three, and naming these (in ascending order) ‘Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist’, reflecting a focus on rewards being based around high-end exclusive experiences. Millennials, in particular, are often more interested in redeeming their accumulated points for an exclusive or luxury experience, rather than future hotel stays. This autumn, for example, World of Hyatt is offering a four-night cultural and gastronomic trip to Tokyo, staying at Hyatt’s luxury Andaz
hotel, at a cost of 300,000 reward points for two, excluding airfares. The monetary cost of the ‘experience’ alone – excluding airfares and accommodation – would be US$3,900 per person. But such extravagant rewards – rather
than a ‘free’ night’s stay – highlight the inherent contradictions in the loyalty universe: should a business traveller who has notched up sufficient travel rewards at the expense of the company really expect to benefit from the growing vogue for ‘soft’ rewards, such as experiences (even if they are millennials) rather than rooms? This brings into sharp focus one of
the fundamental policy issues created by loyalty schemes – be they for flights, hotel rooms or even fuel – which are essentially paid for by the employers of those employ- ees travelling: who owns them? “Although the public sector is still very
policy driven on this issue, many private sector corporate programmes allow their travellers to take part in reward schemes, so there is no clash between their inter- ests,” points out Erica Livermore, chair of the Hotel Booking Agents Association’s business accommodation committee and managing director of Prestige Reservations, a travel and events management company. “We encourage our clients to be flexible
and make things clear within the travel programme’s rules,” she adds. “But meeting and event bookings are a different matter and the rules normally prevent reward points being claimed by individuals.”
BBT July/August 2017 65
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104