Happy New Year to all…
January is a good time to celebrate unsung heroes – repeat customers for instance – the ones that don’t always need a reason to return and are often forgotten in the welter of promotions targeted at new accounts and high-profile spenders. ‘Tis the season to say ” Thank you and Welcome back ” to a valuable asset – the loyal customer.
Frequent visitors make up only 10 percent of all hotel guests but account for 44 percent of hotel nights (hotelmarketing.com). According to a Mckinsey report, redeeming points for free rooms is cumbersome for guests and expensive for hotels.
Loyalty need not be a zero-sum game if we could return to basics! A welcome bouquet, a complimentary upgrade, a free movie-on-demand, faster check-ins make the customer feel special and don’t cost a fortune. The best loyalty program ever is the line “We value your business.” Costs nothing to redeem!