The loyalty race is heating up between the major hotel groups

While there are almost as many loyalty programmes as there are hotels, some stand out the most. Unsurprisingly, it is the major international hotel groups that have the most members, due to their size and reach. However, these figures need to be put into context, given the number of keys operated by each group around the world.

The Americans: champions in loyalty

While Marriott has by far the largest number of members in its Marriott Bonvoy programme, with more than 196 million members today, it should be remembered that the world's leading group holds more than 1.5 million keys. The question of the number of active members is also a legitimate one. How many people registered with Marriott Bonvoy make regular use of their membership cards and how many have never really taken advantage of all the benefits of this programme?

In a conference call, CEO Tony Capuano stressed the importance of loyalty: ‘Looking ahead, we continue to focus on new ways to improve the platform and connect with our members in their daily lives. On the list of loyalty indicators, size is important, but engagement is even more so".

With this in mind, Marriott not only stimulates enrolment in its programme but also rewards its loyal members. The group launches promotions where members have the opportunity to earn more points than usual and therefore unlock rarer rewards. Offering bonus points to stimulate room bookings through Marriott Bonvoy is the technique the group is banking on. Adding new brands to its portfolio is also part of this strategy, with the group targeting new customer segments that are not part of the group's top-of-the-range brands.

The American hotel groups seem to be well ahead of the...