Originally Posted by
sprials
Airline loyalty programs generally belong to the airline and the cost of giving you a ticket is when they expect that seat to go out empty is very marginal cost since their costs are more from fixed costs of flying a plane from A->B. Hotel loyalty programs have to pay the hotel owner when u stay there.
Don't hotel owners join loyalty programs to drive traffic to their properties and fill rooms that would otherwise go empty? Or fill them at higher prices that more than offset the cost of the program and the reduced rates for points redemptions? The middleman (loyalty program) does complicate things for the hotel scenario, but I don't really think it's that different.