Originally Posted by
richarddd
1) A hotel could get guests to book direct by offering something for booking direct, such as a free breakfast.
2) If a program is not going to have useful benefits or is not going to enforce its benefit policies on behalf of customers, why would the customer favor a hotel that's a member of the program?
I realize it's in a very different part of the market, but look at Mandarin Oriental Fans. They don't give status or points, but if you book direct you can choose things such as breakfast or an upgrade subject to availability.
From a customer's point of view, does it matter if the property is owned or franchised/managed? I'd think what the customer gets would be more important.
How important are corporate contracts? I'd think that's where scale would have the biggest effect.
I think Marriott does offer perks for booking direct: an 8%-15% rebate of your rate in points! In terms of perks offered to elites, I genuinely think the majority of normal people (even road warriors) are satisfied with any elite program and just don’t care about the differences. Just my 2 cents.
Fans of Mandarin Oriental is weird tbh. Almost always better to book through a travel agent. I think the most interesting loyalty program is Four Seasons Elite. They don’t offer any concrete perks other than a promised elevated experience. Yet, FS has some of the most die hard fans out of any hotel. The solution? Just delivering consistently excellent hotels. IMO for me, I completely agree that Hyatt Globalist is better than any status Marriott has (and perhaps better than even what SPG offered). However, I will not stay at a worse hotel in SF, South Florida, Boston, etc just for status.
I think my perspective on loyalty is different than most ppl here because I refuse to be loyal unless it is absolutely convenient for me. For people like SPN Lifer that seriously committed to Marriott over their lifetimes and got screwed over, I understand why the experience is so frustrating.
My hotel picking progress weighs these things in descending order:
1) Value (which includes point rebates, confirmed suite upgrades through Hyatt or Virtuoso/whatever, stay 3 pay 2, etc)
2) Absolute quality (location, service quality, etc)
3) Loyalty programs status
I think for many ppl, the value in a hotel is heavily impacted by loyalty programs. But I just don’t see the tangible value other than suite upgrades and late check out. If a hotel is only treating me well bc of my hotel status, it’s probably not a great hotel to begin with.
IME money talks and hotels treat paying customers the best. The best service experience I have ever had was when my parents booked a specialty suite at the st Regis NY. Status didn’t matter (not even sure what status they had back then).
Agree with what ppl said previously about loyalty being a two way street. I’ll say here what I said in the United 1K thread
Loyalty is for suckers. These companies aren’t loyal to us. Why should we be loyal to them?
Hyatt is great now. SPG was great too. One day, Hyatt will become bad and there will probably be a new darling program.
I don’t think Marriott is great or even anything special. I just think we are overestimating how much these program issues matter for the majority of people. I won’t be loyal to Marriott but I will definitely will NOT avoid their hotels when they are the best option (for me, this is often) just because I am not happy with Bonvoy.