During July 2015, IdeaWorksCompany conducted 1,440 reward queries for key hotel brands in four global frequent guest programmes: Hilton HHonors, IHG Rewards, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood SPG.
Marriott Rewards returns an average of 9.4% from room night spending as reward stay value in the first Switchfly Hotel Reward Payback Survey.
That’s a 54% higher return than the reward value provided by Starwood SPG, which was ranked last among the four hotel loyalty programmes at 6.1% for reward payback.
During July 2015, IdeaWorksCompany conducted 1,440 reward queries for key hotel brands in four global frequent guest programmes: Hilton HHonors, IHG Rewards, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood SPG.
For each query, the lowest reward price in points was recorded along with the corresponding price in US dollars.
The value provided by points was adjusted to consider the different rates of point accrual for the programmes. The result provides an average “reward payback” for each program.
For example, the 8.9% rate for Hilton HHonors represents average reward value payback of $8.90 for every $100 spent on hotel room rates. By comparison, IdeaWorksCompany calculated reward payback for major US airlines ranges from 5.5% to 8.6%.
“Consumers want ‘apples-to-apples’ measurements from their loyalty programmes to know who is being truly generous with their rewards,” said Switchfly CEO Daniel Farrar.
“That’s why we launched the Switchfly Hotel Reward Payback Survey: to determine the average reward payback for each programme and see how they compare against each other. Determining the average reward payback for each loyalty programme will become increasingly important as more hotel chains allow customers to pay with points.”
Farrer added, “There are several ways in which hotel loyalty programmes can meet and surpass consumer expectations: frequent promotions with concierge-quality services available to lower-tier members, automated check-ins without staff interaction; Wi-Fi (which is no longer an amenity, but a requirement). It’s a brave new world for hotels.”