NATIONAL REPORT—Hotel bookings from loyalty program members continue to increase across all chainscales—further reinforcing the value proposition for these programs, according to new data from the Demystifying the Digital Marketplace study of more than 25,000 hotels in North America by Kalibri Labs.
Certain customer segments, such as business travel and government, have always been strong on loyalty programs but the proportion of room nights booked by loyalty members is now at an all-time high, far surpassing the traditional contribution strength of those two segments.
In the upper-midscale through upper-upscale chainscales the share of room nights associated with loyalty member bookings is now more than 50%. In terms of growth, Brand.com loyalty penetration increased in the upper-upscale chainscale at 8.5% from 2014-2016, followed by the midscale and upper-midscale chainscales at 7.6% and 7.4% respectively.
The economy segment saw the largest increase at 32.6% growth, though building on a substantially smaller base of about half the loyalty penetration of other chainscales. These increases make it clear that brand loyalty programs will continue to be at the heart of many customer acquisition strategies.
• Loyalty programs grow across all hotel segments from 2014-2016
• Loyalty penetration is up to 60% for the higher tiers
• Largest loyalty demand growth occurred in the economy chainscale with a 32.6% increase, though building on a base of roughly half that of other chainscales