Luxury Loyalty Merger: Taj and Shangri-La Hotels Partner on Loyalty Play
Skift Take
Given increasing consolidation among hotel companies, we wonder if this is one of many such partnerships to come among smaller to mid-size players seeking to strengthen their direct relationships to customers.
Mumbai-based Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces and Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts are teaming up to debut a brand-new loyalty program alliance.
The Warmer Welcomes program, as it's called, will debut in March 2017 with a joint website and targeted marketing campaigns, integrating Shangri-La's Golden Circle and Taj's InnerCircle loyalty programs. Both loyalty programs and both hotel companies aren't merging, but they'll be linked, somewhat similarly to how Marriott has linked its three loyalty programs.
With Warmer Welcomes, nearly five million Golden Circle members and nearly one million InnerCircle members will have top-tier status matching and they can both earn and redeem points for awards and stays at a combined 195 different hotels in 131 different cities.
Although Taj's InnerCircle program has four tiers and Shangri-La's Golden Circle has three tiers, status matching will work so that entry-level status is the same for both in the new Warmer Welcomes program. Diamond level in Golden Circle equates to InnerCircle's Platinum level. Jade status in Golden Circle will be appropriately matched to Gold and Silver in InnerCircle.
In terms of point conversions, 100 Golden Circle points are equal to 67 InnerCircle points, and 100 InnerCircle points are equal to 38 Golden Circle points. Wee Kee Ng, vice president of corporate loyalty and partner marketing at Shangri-La, told Skift, "These point conversions are based on the value of each other's currency." He noted the conversions may also be subject to change over time.
The rules for how members of each program earn points and gain status, respectively, will not be changing, and any existing loyalty partnerships and programs that
