Hotel chains chase customers with tailor-made loyalty programmes

New Delhi: Hotel chains are vying for the ‘loyalty’ of Indian guests in a booming travel market and are diversifying offerings and tailoring bespoke experiences in their loyalty programmes to suit customer preferences.

Khushnooma Kapadia, VP, marketing for South Asia at Marriott International, said the chain has six million members in India and the target is to expand the member base to 10 million. Kapadia said members in India grew by 18% last year. Last year, the hotel chain launched the Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card, India’s first co-branded hotel credit card, in a bid to further grow its clientele.

“Our entire vision, right from the global headquarters to regional offices is simply focused on growing our Marriott Bonvoy occupancies,” she said. Shalini Tewari, general manager, corporate for loyalty and spa at the Lalit Suri Hospitality Group said the chain is introducing The Lalit Rewards, a new digital loyalty programme that operates on a point-based system catering to B2C, B2B (corporate), and its all-inclusive ‘pure love’ loyalty programme customers.

“This comes as a response to changing market dynamics, ensuring our members to enjoy personalised benefits and seamless engagement,” said Tewari, noting that membership has grown 35% over the past year.

There has been a noticeable surge in consumer interest in loyalty programmes in India, paralleling the expanding middle class and rising disposable incomes, said Nikhil Sharma, market MD, Eurasia at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. “Our programme Wyndham Rewards has seen a 29% rise in Indian membership compared to 2022 and a 50% increase compared to 2019,” he added. Last year, Accor partnered with Katrina Kaif, a member of ALL-Accor Live Limitless, the chain’s loyalty programme, to connect with a ‘broader’ audience and ‘entice’ new members. “In India, the membership growth of ALL-Accor Live Limitless has been substantial,” Accor said in a statement.Anuraag Bhatnagar, CEO, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, said ‘Leela Discovery’ has over 500,000 members in India and the member base has grown over 50% in the last two years. “This year, we are excited to announce our first ever Double DISCOVERY Dollar promotion which allows members to avail double the reward currency while booking our member special rates for stays at any of our hotels in India. This is scheduled to be launched at the end of this month,” he added. Each level of Leela’s loyalty programme allows members to earn actual currency in dollar terms besides enhanced stay benefits.