After a year and a half of people staying home, domestic travel is picking up again, which represents an important opportunity for hospitality brands to make up for the commerce they’ve missed out on. This wide-ranging category, which includes airlines, hotels, theaters, theme parks, spas and tourist destinations, should be focused on looking ahead.
Marketers for such brands probably feel as if they are starting from scratch with customer loyalty due to the lengthy lockdown, during which consumers haven’t much used any of the category’s brands.
The good news is that they are all in the same boat—there are no ecommerce hospitality startups that became category leaders during the pandemic and need to be caught up with, such as Instacart, DoorDash and Goldbelly in the grocery/food category.
Hospitality marketers should see this as a huge opportunity to win customers’ loyalty back in a deeper way than before. They need to go the extra mile to show how much they value their patrons by providing a customer experience (CX) that requires fewer steps and greater convenience.
Offer rewards that matter right now
Successful companies need loyal customers. Brands with strong loyalty marketing programs grow revenue 2.5 times faster than their competitors and generate up to 400% higher returns to shareholders. And 79% of consumers say loyalty programs make them more likely to continue doing business with brands.
But what kind of loyalty program will resonate best with consumers? Airlines have been challenged because people haven’t been flying nearly as much for the past 15 months. But now as travel picks up, airlines are facing a wave of points-redemption activity that could hurt their bottom lines. What’s more, cash-back credit cards have recently been favored over credit cards that offer airline points.
Perhaps airlines should take a cash-back page out of various hotel brands’ playbooks. Lotte Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Holiday Inn Express & Suites are some of the brands offering between $30 and $140 back via digital platforms, depending on how many nights a person books. These rewards are frictionless—the customer doesn’t even have to tap a button or take any extra steps.
More importantly, this cash-back strategy should appeal to families and other budget-conscious travelers. Over the past year, thanks to the pandemic, grocery prices have increased by 2.6%, while gas prices have jumped by as much as 9% in recent months and could go higher before the end of the year.
With that in mind, rewards with immediate gratification will matter more than ever. By putting cash back in customers’ wallets, hospitality brands will stand a greater chance of not only rebooting revenues but also being remembered for these offers compared to points or other rewards, which will matter when 2022 trips and vacations get booked.
Enhancing the customer experience
Amusement parks are showing early signs of a slow, but healthy, comeback. Disney has been gradually raising its capacity cap above 35% at Walt Disney World in Florida. On the West Coast, the Los Angeles-area Six Flags park has been taking similar measures to boost attendance as Covid restrictions loosen.
These brands can attract more customers and earn their loyalty this fall by following in the footsteps of airlines and making every piece of relevant safety information readily available. For example, attendees will want to know if they need a vaccination card for a particular park or event, and that information should be readily accessible. Rebooking policies should be as easy to find.
Obviously, on-premise signage and handouts will be important for education, but hospitality brands’ mobile apps should be able to answer every important question about Covid-era policies in the months ahead. This part of the CX will be key to how smartphone-toting vacationers remember their experience, not only with theme parks but also theaters and other event brands.
Across cash-back rewards and readily accessible information, it’s important that consumers don’t have to take extra steps. Hospitality brands should have a CX that doesn’t require customers to call them up, perform Google searches or dig around for information. If a brand helps customers keep some cash in their pockets and gives them a seamless experience, the loyalty established will last for future vacations, day trips and other hospitality-minded fun.
