Expedia and Red Lion Hotels Hit Reset on Loyalty and Direct Booking
Skift Take
Red Lion Hotels is obviously a much smaller chain than a Hilton Worldwide or Marriott International. Still, Red Lion's deal to offer its member-only rates on Expedia.com and Hotels.com represents the start of some shifting in the direct-booking landscape. Expedia is a powerful force in hotel distribution and there will be more of these changes to come.
And then there was Red Lion Hotels -- which has rebooted its overall relationship with Expedia Inc.
Expedia.com and sister site Hotels.com began offering Red Lion Hotels' member-only rates and auto-enrolling non-members in Red Lion's Hello Rewards program when they book on Expedia.com and Hotels.com.
As bigger chains such as Hilton Worldwide and Marriott International, among others, aggressively market their direct-booking campaigns, withholding their lowest, member-only rates from Expedia, the Priceline Group and metasearch engines such as Kayak and TripAdvisor, Red Lion has decided to play ball with Expedia Inc.
When Expedia.com and Hotels.com customers seek to book a Red Lion property on those sites, they view a Red Lion member-only rate -- in addition to seeing a higher, non-member rate. Expedia advises consumers that if they book the Red Lion member rate on Expedia.com or Hotels.com then they will be automatically enrolled in Red Lion's loyalty program. Consumers receive whatever perks Red Lion hands out and Expedia+ or Hotels.com Rewards too.
Expedia then sends the consumer's email to Red Lion -- which is a big deal because the online travel agencies d
