Hotel companies, battling for an edge as business travelers return to the road, are launching aggressive head-to-head loyalty program campaigns.
InterContinental Hotels Group set off the latest round of competition with a direct hit on a recent move by Hilton Hotels to increase the number of points that HHonors members need for free nights.
IHG’s "Luckiest Loser" campaign offers 2 million IHG Priority Club points to the Hilton HHonors member with the highest balance. Another 20,000 "Lucky Losers" will be awarded up to 400 million total IHG Priority Club points to help compensate for what IHG says they are "losing" with Hilton HHonors.
Best Western entered the game shortly thereafter, offering to match customers’ elite status in competitors’ programs. Choice came out last week with a "1+1=Free" promotion, offering one free night after two seperate stays.
While most hotel promotions over the past few years have more directly targeted consumers, Randy Petersen, editor and publisher of Inside Flyer magazine, which focuses on frequent travel programs, said the companies are going after each other this year as they try to woo the returning business travelers.
He called the IHG campaign directly targeting Hilton "unprecedented."
"I can’t remember someone throwing down the gauntlet like this," Petersen said. "Not only did they call Hilton out, but they were willing to put their points behind what they were saying. If you look at the numbers, this is pretty expensive."
The campaign, he said, also shows the power of blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
"IHG is probably second only to Starwood for understanding the impact of social media," Petersen said. "And I think because of that, IHG saw an opportunity to see just how bad Hilton was getting beat up in the blogs and decided, ‘Hey, let’s go do something here.’ It’s an expensive decision."
But while the IHG campaign fueled the beating that Hilton was getting on blogs for its changes in point value, Petersen said what got lost in the chatter was the fact that Hilton’s new point structure simply brings its rewards charts in line with competitors like IHG and Marriott.
"I’ve got 1.7 million points with Hilton, and I’m staying," Petersen said. "I don’t like [Hilton’s] devaluation, but even with their devaluation they are no worse than their competitors. … Hilton is just one of the others right now instead of the better one."
Hilton noted that it had been six years since it changed its point structure. During that time, a Hilton spokesman said, IHG has increased its reward requirements twice.
Best Western’s announcement to match any other program member’s elite status is unusual because the company is publicly guaranteeing the match that travel companies, particularly airlines, often give quietly only to those who know to ask.
"Best Western is doing a fabulous job," Petersen said. "They are trying to say, ‘Hey, we can play, too.’ I really think they are stealing a play from the airlines and matching that in-your-face marketing that IHG is doing with the Hilton smackdown.
"Maybe this is the new guerrilla marketing, and they are all 800-pound gorillas."
This article has been updated to correct information about Choice Privileges' "1+1=Free" promotion, which offers one free night after two separate stays, not two paid nights.
