Skift Take

Let’s place loyalty programs into a larger realm of technology that can improve and increase guest engagement and personalization. All these tools working in parallel can help achieve a truly loyal guest.

Not so long ago, hotel loyalty programs were front-runners in design and innovation. Today many programs have gone stale, commoditization has wreaked havoc on the perceived benefits and rewards of these programs, and the epicenter of innovation has shifted to industries like retail.

We’re excited to publish our latest research report, which explores the concept of hotel loyalty and highlights opportunities to engage with guests through loyalty programs as well as beyond.

This report proposes a more customer-centric approach to loyalty, using the concept of the flywheel, where each stage of the customer journey should be used to collect further data on the customer, which can then be used in subsequent stages. Then we analyze the expansive landscape of tech vendors that are formed around the flywheel and break them into different categories: reservation and booking tools, guest management and marketing tools, guest-facing tech, and back-end tools.

While this report should clarify the different tech that is available today, it’s unquestionably hard for hoteliers to determine which tech to use and which to pass on. Consolidation in the vendor landscape is expected over the coming years as companies are starting to embrace the customer-centric view and want to offer a seamless solution for hotels in each stage of the customer journey.

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What you’ll learn from this report

  • How loyalty can be defined and achieved
  • How loyalty programs are changing
  • How technology is used to improve guest engagement, personalization, and ultimately loyalty
  • How the flywheel approach, as popularized by Amazon, should be used by hoteliers to move toward a customer-centric approach to loyalty
  • What an expanded view of the loyalty tech landscape looks like, and where future opportunities lie

Subscribe to Skift Research Reports

This is the latest in a series of monthly reports, data sheets, and analyst calls aimed at analyzing the fault lines of disruption in travel. These reports are intended for the busy travel industry decision-maker. Tap into the opinions and insights of our seasoned network of staffers and contributors. Over 200 hours of desk research, data collection, and/or analysis goes into each report.

After you subscribe, you will gain access to our entire vault of reports conducted on topics ranging from technology to marketing strategy to deep dives on key travel brands. Reports are available online in a responsive design format, or you can also buy each report à la carte at a higher price.

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Tags: guest experience, hospitality, hotel tech, hotel tech stack, loyalty, personalization, skift research

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