A recent survey from Deloitte & Touche has revealed that one out of four travelers spends 75 percent or more of their stays in their preferred hotel brand.
What this in turn is going to show is that being a member of a loyalty programme for a hotel chain does not necessarily mean you will stay loyal. This is one of the important findings of the survey that asked more than four thousand travelers about their hotel stays and how they make their decisions.
Only one quarter of travelers spend more than seventy five percent of their hotel stays in their preferred chain and an astounding sixty five percent of those surveyed reported to staying in at least two different hotel chains in the last six months. As low as twenty percent of those surveyed actually stated that hotel loyalty was a high priority to them.
So, what is more important to the traveler than loyalty? Nearly half of travelers (47%) stated that the room rate was of high importance; among other factors rating highly were location, free parking and comfort.
What the Deloitte study has concluded from these findings is that in order for loyalty programmes to be a real success, it first needs to be found out what really is important to the guest, whether it is the breakfast menu or the WiFi facilities.
However, a spokesperson for Marriott International Inc., one of the largest and most important US hotel chains, was not in agreement with these findings. It was stated by Laurie Goldstein that guests can use their loyalty points on a wide range of services including auto rental as well as hotel merchandise and even airline tickets.