Hotel loyalty programs have continued to expand beyond a reward for frequent travelers and remain a relatively cost-efficient way to drive occupancy, although they can make it harder to target the most highly valued guests.
This is according to an analysis by CBRE, which found that hotel loyalty program membership surged 14.5% last year to 675 million, pushing users per room up by 7.4% to 137. The expansion of loyalty programs, along with the standardization of perks such as free water and Wi-Fi, as well as early and late check-in and check-out, has created margin headwinds for owners. However, guest satisfaction scores have improved over the past decade.
The average member contribution to occupancy increased to 52.8%, up two percentage points from 2023, but room nights per member decreased. Loyalty programs delivered 12% more room nights year-over-year, while average room nights per member declined by 4% to one.
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Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
