brand loyalty
Creating the Wow Factor in Hospitality
Sean Flakelar | July 11, 2024
We have all heard of the Wow Factor. We see it in architecture, the view, the interiors of a resort or in a sensational meal. We feel it in the smallest and most unexpected touches and gestures. The Hospitality Wow Factor Creating the Wow Factor in hospitality involves going beyond your guests’ expectations to deliver memorable and delightful experiences. Bringing the Wow Factor into your business will set you apart from the competition and build brand integrity. Wow Factor Contributors: Know your Surroundings Utilise the surrounding landscape (rural or urban). Know what’s in your backyard and develop local partnerships to create un...
Loyalty Programs Should Help Soften Impact of Any Economic Downturn on Hotel Sector
CBRE Hotels | April 11, 2023
A record number of loyalty program members should help hotel brands lower their customer acquisition costs, increase direct-to-consumer engagement and offset any occupancy shortfalls during an economic downturn. Direct access to a base of loyal customers is a benefit to owning and operating a branded hotel. Loyalty members can help drive occupancy during off-peak periods or weaker economic conditions. Loyalty members redeemed a record number of points in 2022 that were earned and saved during the pandemic. Publicly available loyalty program metrics of five major U.S. hotel brands suggest that it may take may take more points than in the...
How Next-Gen Tech Is Leveling the Playing Field for Independents in the Race for Guest Loyalty
Ellis Connolly | September 13, 2022
By Ellis Connolly At a dinner last year, I overheard a conversation unfolding between two other guests, one of whom worked at a PR agency. “Believe it or not, micro-influencers are often more impactful from a social media marketing standpoint than the big players,” she shared, at which point my ears pricked up to listen closely. “Campaigns with someone at a high level of fame, like Kim Kardashian, will cost a company incomprehensible sums of money – which may be fine if the ROI justifies it, but if the engagement is predominantly views and general sponsored exposure rather than tangible actions, it’s not necessarily a smart busin...
Accommodation Preferences: Where Do Travelers’ Loyalties Lie?
STR | September 9, 2022
A sense of normality has returned for much of the hospitality industry since the second quarter of 2022 began. Bookings in many leisure destinations are at their highest levels since 2019, and business travel is also making a steady return. While there has been a subsequent and clear lift in hotel demand, it is interesting to see how consumers have viewed hotels vs. alternative forms of accommodation over the last several months. In previous accommodation preference research conducted by STR, consumers showed improved sentiment toward hotels, identified the importance of flexible cancellation rates, and displayed higher tend...
Are Guest Instant Rewards Programs the New ‘Free Same-Day Shipping’?
Ellis Connolly | August 16, 2022
By Ellis Connolly The exchange of goods and services is a critical cog in the wheel of how our world works. As we skim through the pages of history books, we are met with countless, comparatively archaic examples of what we know now to be retail commerce. But even just a few decades ago, many of the digitally-empowered conveniences that define our retail experiences today might have seemed, at that time, far-fetched. Let’s take, for example, the evolution of retail shipping. At one time, consumers expected to wait weeks – maybe even months – for their orders to arrive. Today, however, express shipping has become the new norm, wi...
Top 5 Big Ideas for Your Hotel Revenue Management Strategies
Travel Outlook | October 12, 2021
How to stimulate revenue in a changing travel landscape As the travel and hospitality world turns the page on a period of uncertainty, we begin a new chapter in the industry centered around recovery, rebuilding, and renewed efforts towards revenue optimization. Last month, revenue professionals came together for the annual Revenue Optimization Conference (ROC), where industry leaders outlined, brainstormed, and planned to implement new revenue management strategies to cope with the ever-changing landscape of the hospitality industry in 2021 and beyond. The Revenue Optimization Conference laid the foundation for revenue professionals to...
Brand Loyalty Supersedes Channel Loyalty
Travel Outlook | September 14, 2021
Why Hoteliers Should Embrace Loyal Customers, Regardless of What Channel They Use In the hospitality industry today, convenience is everything. Given the events of the last year, there’s no reason for hoteliers to prefer their customers come to them exclusively through their own channels. Instead, hoteliers should accept that customers have their own preferred channels and realize that customers can show brand loyalty without channel loyalty. The reality of travel in 2021 is that travelers have options when it comes to how they book and where they stay. Securing brand loyalty should be prioritized over channel loyalty. After all, if one...
The New Wave of Brand Loyalty
Travel Outlook | August 3, 2021
How Your Hotel’s Voice Channel Can Influence and Shape Traveler’s Buying Behavior Travel has gone through a year of unprecedented challenges. 2020 was, without a doubt, the single most difficult year in the hospitality industry in recent history. With that behind us, we enter unchartered waters where anything is possible. Now, as travel emerges from a slumber, hoteliers have a unique opportunity to reshape customers' purchasing habits that were all but forgotten. Travelers, like all consumers, are habitually minded. Changing a person’s purchasing behavior is no easy task. Habits dictate nearly half of every decision we make, an...
