Moving Hotel Loyalty Beyond Points — Digital Marketing News This Week
Photo Credit: The hotel loyalty landscape is evolving rapidly thanks to ever-more generous promotions and new outside competitors. Flickr / Free for Commercial Use
Skift Take
Even though Wyndham's attempted "coup" of Starwood members had to be called off, it's a reminder the hospitality industry needs to take a fresh look at the hotel loyalty experience. So far, most of the innovation seems to happening with non-traditional players like HotelTonight and Airbnb.
This past week, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts attempted to stage a loyalty "coup," offering members of Starwood's popular SPG program 4x their current points if they donated their SPG accounts to charity.
Though the campaign soon had to be cancelled due to signs of fraudulent activity, what the move says about bigger trends in the hospitality loyalty space is much more interesting.
As attention-grabbing as Wyndham's offer might have been, it's still stuck on the same points paradigm that's long been the norm. Instead, it's other unexpected players are quietly making moves that could transform the hospitality loyalty dynamic altogether. One example is last-minute hotel company HotelTonight, which recently unveiled its own loyalty offering. Another potential threat is accom
