Skift Take

Accor is walking on thin ice with its most lucrative customers as it merges together the loyalty programs of Accor, Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel. So far, the integration has been nearly flawless.

Series: Business of Loyalty

Travel Loyalty News

The Skift Business of Loyalty covers the world of hotel, airline, and other consumer loyalty programs in the travel industry. Read more coverage of loyalty here.

Le Club, the loyalty program from AccorHotels, finally includes assets from Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel.

It took nearly two years to stitch everything together, but as Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Deanna Ting puts it, the biggest news in the new program may be that it’s not going to be disruptive for any of the participating programs’ current loyalty members. With no big changes for how members earn status, points, or perks, the new program focuses on simply getting everyone on the same page.

That’s the same tack that Marriott is taking as it folds Starwood Preferred Guest into its rewards program through this year. Worried about valuable, high-spend travelers defecting to Hilton, Hyatt, or IHG, Marriott took painful steps to make sure that both SPG and Marriott members were both happy — and as a result, many customers on both sides stuck with the new program.

With a smaller footprint than the Marriott-Starwood behemoth, each of Accor’s loyal travelers is even more valuable than its competitor’s. It follows then, for Le Club to bend over backward appeasing its constituents.

For feedback or news tips, reach out via email at [email protected] or tweet me @grantkmartin.

— Grant Martin, Business of Loyalty Editor

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Skift Business of Loyalty Editor Grant Martin [[email protected]] curates the Skift Business of Loyalty newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Monday.

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Tags: accor, loyalty, marriott

Photo credit: Accor is walking on thin ice with its most lucrative customers as it merges together the loyalty programs of Accor, Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel. Bloomberg

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