Catering to the customer: hotels seek consumer loyalty

While many may opt to stay closer to home this holiday season, travel surfaces as an essential part of the job for some individuals.  Business travelers are one group the hotel industry is appreciative of.  A recent article from The New York Times discusses how certain hotel chains are striving to secure consumer loyalty by adding more value to their guests’ stay rather than dropping rates.

Smith Travel Research, based in Hendersonville, Tennessee, reported that the average occupancy rate in October was down 6.2 percentage points to 58.1 percent and the per-room revenue fell 13.8 percentage points to $57.57 from the previous year.  The Kimpton Hotel chain offers its guests, or should I say frequent guests, personalized attention as part of the group’s loyalty program.  This faction of guests can find complimentary snacks of preference and/or a custom-made CD of their favorite songs waiting for them upon arrival.  Um, yes, I’d like to request some Skittles and a CD full of Texas Country tunes … please.  Anyway … in addition, Kimpton also provides its frequent travelers exclusively prepared dinners and lavish weekend getaways to wine country.  One prevalent buzz word in the hotel industry is “frequent.”  Whether the purpose of one’s trip is personal or business-related, the frequent guest is someone hotels gladly jump to accommodate.  These guests will prove to be a crucial part in cultivating the highly sought after consumer loyalty.

While not all hotels will strive to offer such individualized and detailed attention, the bottom line is they want to retain customers.  With many companies cutting expenses wherever they can, including business travel, brand loyalty sometimes takes a hit.  According to a travel analyst for Forrester Research, “And 2010 is likely to be more difficult for hotels because companies are telling their employees that every penny saved means fewer people laid off or fewer cuts in pay.”  This realistic mentality has hotels responding with free nights, upgrades, and loyalty points.  Specific amenities like free breakfasts, no-fee Internet connections, late checkouts, and paid parking are deliberately tied into some business traveler packages in hopes to entice customers.  Marriott Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, and Sheraton Hotels all cater to the coveted business traveler through various packaging options.

The aptly named “loyalty points” also serve as a popular selling point for travelers.  Points that come with no expiration date are an even hotter commodity.  Sometimes these loyalty points allow customers to have special access to sporting events or concerts when redeemed.  No matter how practical or inventive the approach might be, the hotel industry is simply trying to make the customer happy.

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Photo by Michael Gray, used under a CC-Share Alike License.