SAVANNAH, GA— Franchisees at last month’s Days Inn Worldwide conference held here at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center were presented with a roster of strategic initiatives the brand plans to launch this year, some of which were discussed during the conference’s Town Hall segment fielded by Brand President Joe Kane, Senior Director of Brand Marketing Kenneth Leiter and Franchise Advisory Committee Chairman Jack Burns. Key among the issues was TripRewards, Cendant’s new comprehensive guest loyalty program that spans across most of its brands. Peter Strebel, senior vp, sales and marketing, earlier had presented an update on the program, which is expected to be fully launched this year. “It joins together with a whole network of leading [global]brands, making it easy for Days Inn customers to find value just around the corner,” said Strebel. In addition to the majority of Cendant’s lodging, car-rental (Avis, Budget), vacation ownership (RCI, Fairfield) and service (Jackson Hewitt tax preparers) brands, guests using the proprietary TripRewards card also can earn and redeem points at dozens of outlets such as FTD, Target, Office Depot, Pep Boys, Circuit City, Burger King and Home Depot. “That number will continue to grow every year,” said Strebel. Cendant’s real estate brands, e.g., Century 21, are not yet part of the program. A multi-million-dollar marketing campaign will support the effort, said Strebel, utilizing print and Internet advertising, direct mail and property collateral. TripRewards is funded via 5% of a property’s qualified room rate when points are earned, consistent across the Cendant brand portfolio. There was some concern at the Town Hall among franchisees that the initiative should be proven first before costs are levied against owners. Addressing Kane, one owner who did not identify himself, said: “As it is, we as a franchisee, are penny-pinchers, and after 9/11 as you know, everyone is hurting in our business. What I would like to see is rather than passing all the costs to the franchisees, have some of the cost to you people.” “No company could afford to just launch off a program as deep as TripRewards,” Kane responded. “This is a multi, multi, multi-million-dollar program. There’s got to be some shared responsibilities. I agree with you that we need to try and lower costs to you the franchisees anyway we can. Our goal is not to continue to pass on cost, our goal is to get you more business in the door.” Others wanted to know why it was not brand specific. According to Burns, when the concept for TripRewards was first discussed, alliance chairpersons and the Franchise Advisory Committee wanted a Days Inn specific program. “Kane went back to the drawing board and came back to us as a board and said if we had a brand-specific program it would not have the power, it would not have the robustness that the TripRewards program had,” Burns said. “We had a lot of questions that we threw back to the TripRewards team that we wanted answers for. I expect that this type of dialogue will continue as we go through the rollout as we see some of the issues and challenges.” Other franchisees wanted to know what would happen to the members who are in the brand’s “September Days Club” (SDC) loyalty program, in which members age 50 and over receive up to 50% off the standard rate, which will be phased out. Members will be moved to the new program automatically when it launches and be given a bank of unspecified points. Kane said there were only about 150,000 SDC members left. “They have stopped renewing the program because we were not honoring their discounts as a brand, and they took their business elsewhere.” Kane was adamant the scenario would not be repeated and stressed to the attendees TripRewards was mandatory. “If you do not accept it at your hotel, you’ll be in default of your license agreement. The minute one guest— just one— goes to a hotel and they say: ‘We don’t take that he
