A loyalty plan is much more than just points

Customer preferences evolve rapidly and commercial strategies must adapt, while maintaining freshness to remain convincing.

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Points-based loyalty programs had their moment; large travel companies (especially airlines) gained a large market share with their points-based loyalty propositions.

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Times have changed. In the last year, advance booking has been significantly reduced and guests value more immediately applicable incentives.

Incentives for immediate application

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A recent Google survey found that 37% of users prefer an immediate incentive over earning points (or miles). Only 9% think in the long term.

In fact, the reality is that points represent a financial liability for your hotel. As they are redeemed, it is necessary to update your accounting, complicating your operations and making it difficult to maintain the program.

A good promotional strategy with exclusive rates can motivate the traveler much more than accumulating points. Although it may seem contradictory, these promotional strategies allow the hotelier to build future relationships by building loyalty and expanding its network of prescribers (a happy customer is an ambassador of your brand).

In addition, with an immediate incentive we expand our ability to reach more customers who, attracted by the benefits of the program, decide to register. These contacts are very interesting because, even if they have not completed the booking process, we will be able to impact them automatically and continuously over time, to encourage them to book.

A good commercial structure of promotional policies considerably improves the conversion rate and therefore increases your database. Each new email from a customer can generate new sales opportunities. But to get the most out of it, you need to segment.

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Improving segmentation

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You can analyze what type of customer is more likely to book with a particular promotion and build a strategy that promotes the type of guest you prefer at any given time (couples, families, athletes, ...).

You can be very creative in promotions, not everything is pure discount (free bike check if you arrive before a certain date, extra large bed for children if you book a specific type of stay, ... with the Roiback engine you can unleash your creativity).

The quality of your database as a gateway to personalization

In this case, quality is better than quantity. The most important thing is the quality of your database and the ability to personalize communications, with the goal of increasing your average ticket, your number of nights per booking and achieving better repeat rates.  

With Roiback, users who join your loyalty program come from various sources, always with a focus on data verification, either through the registration form with a double opt-in or through the Social Login button with Google or Facebook as a source of data synchronization.

It is interesting to use levers such as wifi or online check-in as additional recruitment tools and thus increase the database with quality contacts.

At Roiback we have examples of clients who, with a database of less than 2,000 users, sold more than 40,000€ in bookings in just 3 days thanks to an email marketing campaign.

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Loyalty for your loyal customers. Differentiate your most repeat customers.

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With our Loyalty Advance Loyalty Advance program, you can reward repeat customers in a differentiated way.

With this powerful tool, your loyalty strategy can differentiate between new and repeat customers (more likely to book higher categories).

In addition to rewarding your most loyal customers, it also gives you the ability to generate more revenue with the program, as you can gradually adjust promotions based on the value each customer brings you.

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Compete with all your weapons

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Applying differentiated rates to your loyalty program members also allows you to compete "on price" by offering a positive disparity in your direct channel without explicitly stating it.

In addition, our integration with the main metasearch engines allows you to show your best price (applying the loyalty rate), which will help you improve conversion rates by showing a much more competitive rate against OTAs.

Remember that OTAs are already building customer loyalty with their loyalty strategies. By activating your program you can significantly reduce the impact and value of their discounts.

According to Phocuswright's forecasts for the European travel market 2021-2025, the direct channel will be the channel of choice for 7 out of 10 online bookings.

At Roiback we help you to design a strategy tailored to your needs.

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