I’ve spent much of my career discussing and predicting the evolution of our industry. Of course, much of this effort focuses explicitly on changing guest expectations and trends, as they set a precedent for the best practices adopted by hotels, airlines, and travel companies. However, amidst all the many changes that have unfurled over the last decade – most of which are a byproduct of digital innovation and disruption – there exists a core aspect of the guest experience that has quietly transformed in the background: the hotel room.

Think back to the last time you stayed in a hotel room. Once you have conjured that image in your mind, I want you to think back to a hotel room you stayed in 5-10 years ago if you can. Can you pinpoint any significant differences between the hotel room of today and the hotel room of the past? You should – because over the last decade, the hotel room archetype has undergone a Marie Kondo-Esq makeover, if you will. This minimalistic refinement has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has turned the hospitality industry on its head for two excruciatingly long years. With the dust of the pandemic finally settling, we must now survey the landscape and take note of that which remains the same and has transformed under pressure. In this particular case, the hotel room as we once knew it is shrinking before our eyes.

A Less is More Approach

“My hands were as dry as parchment when I checked into Washington’s Donovan House hotel on a bitterly cold day last winter,” wrote Nancy Trejos in a 2011 Washington Post article. “Eager for some moisturizer, I went straight to the bathroom, where I discovered no moisturizer to be found. Nor was there any shower gel for bathing, just plain old skin-drying soap. I was perplexed. Where were my favorite toiletries? For a while, you could count on your average hotel room to be almost as well-stocked as a Wal-Mart. Walk into the bathroom, and you’d find shampoo, conditioner, lotion, mouthwash, a shower cap, and not one but two bars of soap, in case you didn’t want to lather your body with the same suds that oozed over your hands. Lost a button? Mending kit right this way. Want to buff your shoes? Grab the shoe mitt. But the recession put the brakes on such bountiful in-room accouterments.”

Of course, the economic downturn she was referring to was the 2008 recession which, much like the COVID-19 pandemic, set in motion a series of industry-wide adjustments that would remain for the foreseeable future. While many of us have fond memories of eagerly stuffing travel-size shampoos, conditioners, and body wash bottles into our suitcase only to have them promptly replaced on our guest room vanity, hotels have since shifted their approach. But as it turns out, the phase-out of individually bottled bathroom toiletries was just the beginning.

Around the world, many hotels have also begun replacing bathtubs with showers to address hygiene concerns and save on space. Of course, that’s not to say bathtubs are impossible to find, but they may be exclusive to specific suites rather than offered as the standard throughout a property. We’ve also seen the gradual death of the hotel mini-bar, which used to be a nostalgic staple within the hospitality experience and room service offerings. If we are being transparent, traditional hotel mini-bars often require more operational headaches and maintenance costs than they were worth. As a result, the convenience they provided guests came at a notoriously steep price. Now, many hotels are instead prioritizing memorable cocktail experiences, including customized bar carts serviced by bartenders with the skills to make specialty cocktails. Room service, on the other hand, has been largely replaced with unique dining options and community workspaces offered by hotels.

As hotels strive for enhanced sustainability, they are also moving to scale back on the frequency of guest sheet and towel changes, eliminate single-use plastic (a COVID-era staple), and reduce energy consumption via smart technology (such as thermostats). Furthermore, hotels are largely abandoning movie rentals in favor of smart TV applications widely embraced by the masses (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc.). Finally, many hotel rooms are now devoid of phones in favor of voice-activated assistants like Google minis and are opting for smart wardrobe-style closets rather than traditional dressers.

The Future is Bright

This is a ‘less is more’ approach to guest room design and helps hotels gain momentum in pursuing modern functionality and sustainable best practices. And really, why shouldn’t the hotel room transform in a similar fashion to the rest of the property? Around the globe, hotels are rapidly transforming their lobbies to offer digital-first, self-service conveniences (self-service kiosks, VR, AI, and more) while making way for unique, mixed-use rooms and experiences that encourage connection and appeal to leisure and business travelers alike. And now, more than ever, many hotels are answering guest demand for local experiences by embracing local style and culture within their layout and offerings while breaking the ‘traditional hospitality’ mold to usher in a new era of eco-conscious travel.

By leveraging the power of an AI rewards-based loyalty program with a growing network of 1,000+ big-name instant gratification partners, Laasie delivers rewards for on-property purchases, luxury amenity use, or on-property experiences. Guests can choose high-value rewards that are relevant to them and makes their stay more memorable. This is the key to driving direct bookings, loyalty, retention, and purchase behavior, helping hotels of all types compete with OTAs.

Let’s face it; today’s guests have an insatiable appetite for convenience, personalization, flexibility, blended travel offerings, local experiences, sustainable policies, and, perhaps more importantly, a balance of high-touch and high-tech touchpoints. After all, as our personal and professional habits continue to evolve to embrace emerging technology, it’s only natural for those preferences and habits to extend into the realm of travel, and thus, must be accounted for. The use of modern loyalty technology opens up new revenue opportunities for hotels that are infinitely scalable.

So yes, the hotel room is – technically speaking – shrinking, but it's simultaneously expanding in other, meaningful ways. More importantly, hotels are leveraging modern technology to expand their offering beyond the physical attributes of any guest room. Using technology to enhance guest experiences, hotels can downsize other, more antiquated guest service elements while driving revenue in new, exciting ways.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer

Laasie has reached its highest-ever market share, with a recording-setting year of sales, over 925 new property implementations, $200M in incentivized booking revenue, and over $16M in guest rewards value. Also fueling the hotel loyalty rewards innovator's continuous growth is the addition of 9 strategic new hires across product, operations, and sales. The company is already on pace to outperform projections in 2023.

Laasie’s accomplishments also stem from strategically setting the brand's hotel partners up for success, exceeding guest expectations, increasing revenue, and building long-lasting relationships with their guests that start at that pivotal booking moment.

For Laasie and its clients, this past year marked:

• Over 925 new properties onboarded to Laasie’s loyalty products

• $199,745,998 incentivized booking revenue (based on bookings that selected rewards)

• $16,589,370 rewards value (based on the value of chosen rewards by guests)

2022 was a huge year for us with product developments, rewards partnerships, soaring sales, and implementing new ways to elevate the guest booking experience. We have a lot of exciting initiatives planned for 2023 that will keep the momentum going and provide hotels with even more guest engagement and revenue opportunities to achieve, and even exceed, their business goals. 

– Jen Wong, CEO of Laasie

Loyalty shouldn’t be complicated, but historically, it has been with unrealistic requirements, delays, and barriers that leave travelers disappointed and frustrated. Laasie’s unique platform is unlike any other on the market, with a proven track record of increased conversions and net revenue. The lightweight, turnkey solution delivers incentives upon a desired action and rewards guests on the hotel’s website while on-property or traveling home. It also supports white labeling for all customer-facing interfaces to match a brand’s marketing guidelines. The best part is this offers hotels a significant competitive advantage with no operational headaches while imparting a memorable experience for guests that generic points can’t provide.

To learn why thousands of leading hotels trust Laasie’s next-generation loyalty solution to drive conversions and increase repeat guest bookings, visit laasie.ai.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer

Enhancing guest experience while increasing direct revenue for hotels

Selfbook and Laasie, both guest-centric hospitality platforms dedicated to increasing direct revenue for hotels, have come together to further enhance the guest experience on- and offline. Selfbook modernizes hotel bookings and payments with its seamless booking layer and user experience, and Laasie shifts away from traditional loyalty to offer hotels a powerful membership program that provides guests infinite tiers, personalized rewards, and instant gratification.

Selfbook is setting a new standard in hotel bookings by increasing conversions, average order value, and revenue through its seamless checkout experience and digital wallet support for Apple Pay and Google Pay. Integrating directly with hotels’ existing systems, Selfbook is committed to empowering hotels worldwide by continuously improving user experience and supporting the fastest-growing payment methods that are shaping how we spend today.

Laasie brings instantly gratifying rewards to guests who book direct, enhancing conversion and retention with AI-driven reward personalization. With Laasie’s recommendation engine and rewards ranging from local in-market experiences to on-property ancillary revenue drivers like F&B, hotels have been able to drive over $520 million in direct booking and ancillary revenue.

Together, both platforms combine their conversion- and revenue-driving strengths to offer a simple, memorable booking experience that boosts guest loyalty. Within the booking flow, guests have the opportunity to view the combination of Laasie rewards tied to their selected reservation, such as local experiences, on-property rewards and merchant offers, all within Selfbook’s frictionless booking flow. Once the booking is complete, guests receive an email from Laasie with instructions to redeem their rewards, as well as the opportunity to either sign in to an existing loyalty account or create a new one for future use.

“Today’s travelers want instant rewards and frictionless booking experiences. Our partnership with Selfbook allows hotels to provide both to guests seamlessly in our integrated solution,” says Ellis Connolly, Chief Revenue Officer at Laasie. “With direct bookings being a top revenue strategy for hotels in 2023, we believe this partnership is a win for both guests and hoteliers.''

“Our partnership with Laasie will allow us to take Selfbook’s direct booking experience to the next level by further incentivizing guests to book directly on hotel websites,” says Gautier Colin, VP, Partnerships at Selfbook. “By seamlessly layering Laasie rewards into our booking flow, we bring guests an irresistible combination of special benefits and convenience to boost both loyalty and conversion.”

About Selfbook

Uniquely positioned at the intersection of fintech and hospitality, Selfbook revolutionizes hotel bookings and payments from the inside out. Working in tandem with hotels’ existing technology systems, Selfbook enhances what matters most to hotels, including direct conversion, revenue, cash flow control, and security. Built by a team of hospitality veterans, Selfbook’s products provide a refreshingly effortless user experience for guests and hoteliers alike. Selfbook is committed to empowering hotels worldwide with modern e-commerce solutions tailor-made for our industry.

About Laasie

Laasie powers a new kind of loyalty for 1,800 hotels and resorts through AI and a network of 1,100+ instant gratification partners. No points, no tiers, no waiting for qualification. Awarded the #1 Direct Booking Platform by HotelTechAwards, Laasie incentivizes conversion and retention, driving over $500 million in direct bookings for their partners.

Today’s savvy customers are uninspired by yesterday’s rigid loyalty programs, often leaving with unused points and limited brand affinity. Laasie uses artificial intelligence and big data to dynamically create loyalty with personalized, instant rewards that motivate customer actions like booking directly, making a return visit, joining a marketing program for offers, and more. The result? Customers enjoy enriched experiences with each brand interaction and partners benefit with increased net revenue, actionable data insights, strengthened customer relationships, and a scalable loyalty program that increases the lifetime value of every customer.

To learn more, visit laasie.ai

Offering value in exchange for data will resonate more deeply with guests, inspiring engagement, revenue, trust, and loyalty

As privacy concerns related to data capture reach a fever pitch, consumer data – perhaps better described as the critical currency which powers personalization – is becoming a protected commodity. For a long time, brands across industries could collect and store online data without explicit disclosure of that capture and, more importantly, without first obtaining consent. This was a discreet and arguably invasive practice.

Over time, privacy and personal data protection concerns began competing with consumer desire for a data-driven, personalized experience. The result? A widespread erosion of consumer trust, which, for customer-facing, service-based brands like hospitality, is very bad for business.

All of this coincides with massive changes in data privacy from Apple and Google, which will significantly impact channels like Facebook and mobile apps. Data will, of course, continue to drive insights and personalized touch-points, but the rules of engagement have changed. Industries like hospitality, which rely on retrieving traveler information to curate more relevant messaging, offers, experiences, and loyalty rewards, must adjust their approach.

As we bid 2022 goodbye, “Ask, and you shall receive” is no longer the ruling mantra; rather, this should be replaced with “Incentivize, and you shall receive.” Data is valuable, and it’s due time for hotel operators to establish a two-way value exchange that incentives guests to readily share their information to unlock a heightened experience.

It’s Time to Turn the Page on the Wild West of Data Collection

“The data harvested from our devices, along with our trail of electronic transactions and data from other sources, now provides the foundation for some of the world’s largest companies,” shared the Harvard Business Review in February of this year. “Personal data is also the wellspring for millions of small businesses and countless startups, which turn it into customer insights, market predictions, and personalized digital services. For the past two decades, the commercial use of personal data has become like the wild west. But now, because of consumer mistrust, government action, and competition for customers, those days are quickly ending.”

Simply put, hotels cannot offer a great guest experience without prioritizing data protection and transparency; one tier of service (personalization) cannot come at the expense of another (privacy and consent). In 2023 and beyond, great service will be synonymous with heightened data protection and transparency.

If hotels elevate their efforts to meet guests' expectations for customized offers and experiences, and treat personalization as a strategic priority, they will see immediate benefits that deliver long-term results. That is why every hotel's primary mission should be to clearly demonstrate the value exchange: a personalized experience at every touchpoint in trade for data. The good news is that tailor-made journeys are exactly what guests want. Fortunately for hotels, modern loyalty programs represent an ethical and effective way to capture guest data and establish a clear value exchange, which rewards guests for sharing their data.

The Value Exchange: What Are You Giving Guests in Exchange for Their Data?

One significant shift is that consumers recognize the value of their data and are willing to share personal information in exchange for something in return. People are typically more inclined to do something when there is a benefit for them. A 2022 Coresight Research study revealed the following:

• 80% of consumers are willing to share personal data to earn loyalty program benefits.

• 70% of consumers are willing to share their data to receive special discounts and offers.

• 71% of consumers will shop more often with brands or retailers that personalize their communications.

Why should guests give up their personal data without receiving anything in return? Shouldn’t this exchange be a two-way street? What new experiences and services can guests expect in exchange for their data and loyalty? The win-win involves identifying the value exchange and unlocking the right data.

Next-generation technology sets the stage for this dynamic by allowing hospitality brands to offer their guests data control and value in a seamless, scalable fashion. Modern loyalty platforms like Laasie look to instantly reward guests with relevant, high-value rewards when they perform a desired action, such as booking direct or opting in to share their information.

In an entirely transparent fashion, Laasie collects every relevant and appropriate data point shared by guests and then converts this data into actionable insights hotels can leverage to direct business strategy intelligently. In exchange, guests benefit from a more personalized experience and get to choose from an open marketplace of instantly-selectable reward options across shopping, dining, activities, and more.

In simple terms, Lassie’s loyalty program automatically incentivizes and earns travelers' consent, unlocking richer experiences, better service, and high long-term loyalty. This isn’t just the future of hotel loyalty – this is the future of guest data capture across the industry. Finally, hotels will be able to unlock the true power of a dynamic, customer-centric loyalty program powered by AI and instant gratification and, as a result, build meaningful, value-driven relationships with their guests.

It may be the end of an era of easy access to guest data, but it is just the beginning of a new era of deeper trust and engagement between guests and their favorite hotel brands.

Free guide reveals everything you need to know to engage guests and keep them coming back

They say that the only constant in life is change, and the hospitality industry is no exception. The hospitality industry finds itself at the mercy of ever-changing guest trends and preferences that, often, can only be achieved at scale with the help of continued innovation and new-age technology. And yet, the hospitality industry is notorious for its slow adoption of new tech, often holding on to legacy systems and processes long past their suggested expiration date. Unfortunately, hotel loyalty programs have suffered the brunt of this consequence; while travelers seek forward-facing hospitality brands, traditional loyalty programs remain buried in the limitations of the past.

Across industries, marketers and business owners find themselves ruminating over the same question – is loyalty dead? Are modern customers incapable of exhibiting loyalty to the brands they purchase from? If not, why does customer loyalty feel increasingly elusive, if not entirely absent from the marketplace? The fact is that any hotel that insists “loyalty is dead” simply hasn’t bothered to revamp or evolve its loyalty program. The only loyalty programs that cease to matter in today’s landscape are those which fail to delight and enhance a guest's experience in a measurable, meaningful way.

According to Skift Research, the rate of leisure travelers who were loyalty members of the hotel they stayed in during their most recent trip went from 43 percent to 47 percent between 2020 and 2021. Moreover, members contribute between 30 percent and 60 percent of room revenue and tend to pay higher average daily room rates (ADR) than non-members. In addition, 75% of American consumers say they’re more likely to be loyal to brands that understand them personally, and only 42% of brand executives think their customer loyalty strategies are effective.

In 2020, Mastercard also reported that most US adults (90%) belong to at least one loyalty program, and 53% are in three or more – yet many brands struggle to find ways to engage customers. In 2019, Mintel reported that, although 90% of US adults belong to at least one loyalty program, more than half of loyalty memberships are inactive. Often, this lack of engagement and satisfaction can be attributed to the simple fact that loyalty programs don’t offer incentives guests actually care about, or, if they do, those incentives are locked behind a tier that will take thousands of points to reach. The worst part? The points might expire before a guest even has a chance to use them.

There is no denying it – loyalty programs are a worthy (if not entirely essential) investment. They just often hit the mark. For years, the “points-based” loyalty system has reigned supreme – not due to perceived excellence or superiority to other formats, but simply because it was what hospitality brands had always done. Yet, it’s no secret that this traditional approach to guest loyalty leaves much to be desired; it often fails to delight (or even satisfy) guests and often fails to derive ROI and benefit a hotel's bottom line in any meaningful way. This begs the question – why haven’t we done anything to change it? Is there not a better way?

Fortunately, there is. Finally, hotels can offer guests personalized rewards and instant gratification rather than hard-to-redeem points. This shift in the legacy loyalty model is not only good business – it’s the (lucrative) future of guest loyalty.

Download The Ultimate Guide to Revitalizing Guest Loyalty and Revenues in 2023.

Redefined Personalization, Instant Rewards and Technology are the New Pillars For Guest Engagement

We are officially on the eve of a new year, already moving through the holiday season at the signature blink-and-you-might-miss-it pace that is seemingly synonymous with this time of year. From Thanksgiving celebrations to Christmas festivities, end-of-year reflections, and year-ahead preparations, our personal and professional calendars are likely brimming with activity and commitments. But this year, perhaps more than any other, feels especially monumental, as 2022 was not only the year the world returned to relative normalcy – it was the year the hospitality industry finally roared back to life.

Of course, this industry is nothing without its traditions, and we can’t conclude this pivotal year without first paying lip service to the trends it produced and, more importantly, the trends we expect to dominate in 2023. Specifically, we want to look at the loyalty segment of the hospitality industry to identify the foremost trends expected to turn legacy loyalty on its head in favor of a new kind of loyalty next year.

Guests Crave Personalization and Connection

If the theme of 2021 was ‘the new normal,’ the theme of 2022 was surely connection and experiences. After two years of pandemic-related closures and limitations, it seems we found our post-pandemic redemption through rekindled connections and in-person moments shared with friends, family, and even the brands we purchase from. Consumer values have been recalibrated to embrace life after the pandemic in new ways, and hotel loyalty programs are expected to adjust accordingly.

To this effect, the Qualtrics (Nasdaq: XM) 2023 Global Consumer Trends Report revealed that consumer loyalty will be won through personal connections, not pure efficiency. The human desire to be heard and understood is universal, especially in today’s digital world, said Bruce Temkin, head of Qualtrics XM Institute. With all the economic, political, and medical uncertainties over the next couple of years, organizations need to get even better at recognizing and responding to shifts in customers' thinking and feeling to retain their loyalty.

Simply put, travelers are no longer content to demonstrate loyalty towards brands that fail to offer a personalized experience aligned with their values. Guests want to feel connected to the hospitality brands they book with. Hotels can capitalize on this preference by curating personalized, value-driven loyalty programs that make guests feel seen, heard, and understood. Now, more than ever before, hotels should look to encourage emotional loyalty and treat guests as valued members of their community rather than transient customers.

Loyalty Programs will Reign Supreme as Cookies Come to an End

In case you missed it, Google plans to phase out third-party cookies by 2023/2024 as part of its “privacy sandbox” program for Chrome. While this is great news for consumers who are increasingly wary of the digital capture of their data, it is expected to be a shock for brands that rely on that data capture to curate a personalized customer experience. Fortunately for hotels, modern loyalty programs represent an ethical and effective way to capture guest data through the power of incentivization.

Delayed Gratification is Out; Instant Gratification is In

Consider this: In a recent survey of nearly 3,000 US adults, 45% of Millennials said technology has made them more impatient than they were five years ago. Millennials have been dubbed the generation of “instant gratification.” Moreover, 80% of millennials and 68% of non-millennials say they would be more than willing to enter a premium loyalty program of their favorite companies if offered and if the benefits and perks are valuable.

It’s Time to Break the Loyalty Mold

To be frank, many loyalty ‘perks’ traditionally offered by hotels are as impersonal as they are predictable and boring. In many cases, guests will continue to save and accumulate their loyalty points to hit a higher, more exciting tier of rewards, only to have their points expire before being used. But do loyalty rewards have to be that way? Can’t we look beyond a free bottle of champagne or an extra night at the hotel to offer guests rewards that surprise them, excite them, or help to solve problems?

Finally, it’s time to break the traditional loyalty mold. Moving beyond the confines of a one-size-fits-all points system, hotels can redefine what loyalty rewards look like, in addition to what guest behaviors are rewarded. Should a booking decision be the only action rewarded by hotels? Certainly not, and hotels are now leveraging their loyalty programs to inspire engagement with guests at various touchpoints, such as leaving a review or offering feedback, or even rewarding them for making responsible choices while traveling (i.e., actions that empower environmental sustainability). In fact, sustainability is one of the foremost hospitality trends heading into 2023 and using this new framework, hotels can incentivize guests to be engaged visitors to their property and citizens of the world.

Travelers today don’t only expect personalization and convenience from hospitality brands – they also expect more tangible rewards. While loyalty systems of the past have exclusively relied on the promise of delayed gratification via a volume-based model, new-age loyalty platforms work to abandon that framework entirely. Loyalty platforms like Laasie offer instant, personalized rewards in place of tiered point systems, allowing guests to ‘cash in’ on their curated selection of reward options the moment they book.

The best part? Data gleaned directly from guests in exchange for rewards and perks is more likely to be authentic and accurate than second and third-party data. In 2023 (and beyond), loyalty programs are expected to become a key revenue driver for hotels and airlines with the help of comprehensive, AI-powered technology.

FOMO is Alive and Well in the Experience Economy

With two years of varying degrees of social isolation finally behind us, travelers around the world are exhibiting an undeniable appetite for in-person experiences. Now, more than ever, people place more value on experiences than material goods, especially when booking a vacation. To this effect, some of the key search and click growth trends Microsoft saw in 2022 were as follows:

• Searches for Tour Operators are up 45% compared to 2019

• Searches for Tourist Attractions are up 14% compared to 2019

• Clicks for Concerts and Music Festivals are rebounding to pre-pandemic levels

• Events, Shows & Cultural Attractions click-through rates are up 86% year-over-year (YoY)

• 22% of travelers say they plan to experience more guided cultural activities than they had pre-pandemic

As you might have guessed, this is excellent news for hospitality and, more specifically, hotel loyalty programs. With experiences increasingly coveted and sought after by guests around the world, prospective travelers are plagued with repeated pangs of wanderlust and FOMO (fear of missing out). Hotels can capitalize on this trend by offering share-worthy, experience-based rewards to guests that not only establish an emotional connection between the property and the guest but also create FOMO in prospective travelers who hear about it.

We learned the original rules of hotel loyalty, and in 2023, it’s time to break them. Modern loyalty platforms are dynamic, exciting, personalized and can delight guests. In turn, guests are given a better on and off-property experience, while hotels forge stronger connections with guests, generate business-defining insights, and maximize conversion rates.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer

Rewarding guests for sharing their data is an opportunity to gain valuable insights and build more personalized connections as search engines crack down on website tracking

It’s officially time for businesses to get their hands out of the cookie jar – the internet cookie jar, that is. In January 2020, Google announced its intentions to “overhaul Chrome” by removing cookies and, in turn, better protect users' privacy as they browse the web. Fast forward to today, and the search engine giant has scrapped its original plan to transition to Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) in favor of a new system called Topics, expected to materialize in 2024. Although the jury is still out on when this transition will reach its completion – and whether or not it will have a meaningful impact on user privacy – one thing remains certain: the days of internet cookies are coming to an end sooner rather than later.

Of course, it could also be argued that this is not a new development; after all, other search engines, including Safari, Firefox, and Brave, have already restricted the use of cookies. However, it's essential to acknowledge the market share which Google Chrome captures. Chrome hogs 63 percent of the global browser market and, in many ways, sets the standards accepted across the industry. Whether you love or hate Google doesn’t particularly matter in this case; Google still runs the digital world, and its big-picture influence is impossible to ignore.

The reasoning for the inevitable phase-out of cookies, Google argues, is that "Users are demanding greater privacy – including transparency, choice, and control over how their data is used – and it’s clear the web ecosystem needs to evolve to meet these increasing demands.” While this may be true, it represents a significant challenge for businesses, especially those in industries that rely heavily on collecting user data over digital mediums to inform a more personalized browsing experience.

As you might have guessed, the hospitality industry falls heavily into this bucket. Today's guests come to the table with exceptionally stringent rules of engagement; hotels must offer a highly personalized experience that is equal parts high-touch and high-tech while still adhering to emerging data privacy regulations. This begs the question – with the digital cookie jar officially closed for business, how will hotels capture guest data to offer a more personalized and memorable experience?

A Glimpse Into a Cookie-less Future

In simple terms, cookies store unique identifiers (like session IDs) about your computer to identify you as an individual visitor. These cookies are then sent back to the server each time your browser requests a new page, which helps websites remember you, your preferences, and your habits online.

According to research, 62% of customers prefer personalized products and services, but almost the same number (61%) feel like they have lost control over how companies use their information. We’ve found ourselves at a critical inflection point, it would seem, where consumers remain conflicted in their continued embrace of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, personalized experiences are significantly more satisfying than the alternative, but on the other hand, personalization comes at a price: user data. Until now, consumers have been the ones to foot that bill, and perhaps, as we move forward into this new and largely uncharted terrain, they are ready to flip that script.

In a cookie-less future, hospitality websites must capture and store user data using new methods. But perhaps, it’s time for businesses – specifically, hospitality brands – to step up to the plate and offset the price travelers’ have traditionally paid for a personalized experience. Perhaps, it’s time to stop treating guest data as something inherently given and instead view it as something that should be earned.

A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement

Rather than interpreting Google’s shifts as a threat to business, or the hospitality industry at large, I urge hoteliers to look at it as an opportunity for enhanced connection with guests, especially in the realm of guest loyalty. After all, guests aren’t inherently against sharing their information with hotels; they simply aren’t willing to hand it over for free anymore. Research indicates that most consumers (65%) are willing to share their personal information with a brand or retailer in exchange for more personalized shopping experiences, coupons, or other benefits. Moreover, almost four out of five (79%) of consumers agree that the more personalization tactics a brand uses, the more loyal they are to that brand. Finally, 90% of all travelers expect a personalized experience when they book a hotel.

To incentivize guest behavior, platforms like Laasie aim to offer instant gratification at every touch-point. With Laasie’s exclusive network of over 1,000 rewards partners, hotels can now provide their guests instant gratification at every touch-point. Rather than relying on a legacy, volume-based points model, hotels can build a reciprocal relationship with guests.

Using a modern, AI-powered loyalty platform, hotels can finally reward guests for their actions (even beyond the booking decision) to generate guest insights at every turn. By shifting our industry’s approach to guest loyalty, hotels can effectively earn the guest data they hope to capture, which will not only maximize conversion but empower a better guest experience, and higher lifetime value attributed to each guest. The best part? The personalization offered to guests – and subsequently, the relationship shared between guests and their favorite hotels – will only improve with time. No cookies needed.

How vacation rentals can leverage the power of instant gratification rewards programs to increase conversions, drive revenue and keep guests coming back

It wasn’t that long ago that Airbnb took the world of hospitality by storm. What began with two guys renting out air mattresses in their San Francisco apartment to conference attendees in an attempt to make rent later became the darling of Silicon Valley success stories. In 2020, just 12 years after its first iteration, the company was valued at just over $100 billion in the biggest U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of the year. In an article published in Forbes, author Dina Gerdeman wrote, “Airbnb is revolutionizing the lodging market by keeping hotel rates in check and making additional rooms available in the country's hottest travel spots during peak periods when hotel rooms often sell out, and rates skyrocket, a new study shows.” The Airbnb effect was simple but undeniably attractive to eager travelers: when hotels were fully booked, Airbnb expanded the capacity for rooms. Moreover, these rentals offered young and culture-curious travelers a new take on the traditional guest experience – one that was decidedly more intimate and unique.

Airbnb’s home rental platform may not have been the disruptor that anyone saw coming, but the disrupter transformed travel as we once knew it, ushering in a new era most aptly called the sharing economy. However, the shockwave of Airbnb’s industry impact was stalled shortly after its IPO, as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the hospitality industry at large to a grinding halt. With no travelers to serve, airlines, hotels, and Airbnb rentals entered a period of a significant downturn, aligned with their desire to see travel surge back to life as soon as possible.

Having finally entered a period of post-pandemic recovery, industry experts are now surveying the industry landscape under a new lens. Which format will reign supreme on the other side of the pandemic – traditional hospitality, hotels, or Airbnb? Perhaps the better question is, how has the market changed over the last two years, and how can vacation rentals capitalize on those changes to influence booking behavior, delight travelers, and inspire guest loyalty?

If You Change the Way People Work, You Also Change the Way They travel

In case you missed it, the pandemic reshaped work around the globe as organizations across industries were forced to embrace remote work. Even now, in the wake of the pandemic, many of those organizations will move forward with a remote or hybrid work model, allowing their employees a level of freedom that was previously uncommon in the corporate world.

To this effect, McKinsey’s recent American Opportunity Survey revealed that 58 percent of Americans have reported having the opportunity to work from home at least one day a week. “Thirty-five percent of respondents report having the option to work from home five days a week. What makes these numbers particularly notable is that respondents work in all kinds of jobs, in every part of the country and sector of the economy, including traditionally labeled “blue collar” jobs that might be expected to demand on-site labor as well as “white collar” professions,” reads the report. “Another of the survey’s revelations: when people have the chance to work flexibly, 87 percent of them take it. This dynamic is widespread across demographics, occupations, and geographies. The flexible working world was born of a frenzied reaction to a sudden crisis but has remained a desirable job feature for millions. This represents a tectonic shift in where, when, and how Americans want to work and are working.”

This shift to a work-from-home (or anywhere) model is important because it directly impacts travel behavior. In the past, travelers were limited to their designated vacation time when considering domestic or international trips. But today? They can technically work from anywhere, and as a result, the short-term rental (STR) market is seeing an impressive surge in demand. According to data from Airbnb, demand for stays of weeks or months is on the rise. This is great news for STR providers, as it frees them from the traditional ebb and flow of seasonal demand. At the same time, daily rates increase in response to remote-work travelers’ preference for larger, more comfortable accommodations in popular markets.

Moreover, more hosts are entering the market in an attempt to not only jump on this emerging trend but combat rising inflation. In the United States, where inflation increased by 9.1 percent in June 2022, the number of new Airbnb hosts grew by more than 50 percent in Q2 20223, compared to Q2 2021 – and this same trend was observed around the world. The writing is on the wall – if you change how people work, you also change how they travel, and hospitality brands should look to lean into the STR segment to capitalize on this recent growth.

STR Guests Can Be Loyal, Too

Typically, hospitality loyalty programs focus on traditional travel behavior, specifically, leisure vacations and business travel. But what about short-term rentals? If these guests offer a high revenue value and are in the market for frequent travel (even during off-peak times), don’t they deserve access to the same (if not better) loyalty incentives as other travel segments? While the traditional, volume-based hotel loyalty model, which allows guests to accumulate points for each stay, may not be the best fit for STR guests, rewards-based loyalty is perfectly positioned to delight STR guests.

Moving away from the points-based model, modern rewards solutions like Laasie look instead to leverage the power of instant gratification by offering guests instant, hyper-personalized rewards. Each time a traveler performs a desired behavior, whether a booking decision, simply interacting with the property, or even providing feedback, they will be granted access to a marketplace of rewards partners — local, national, and global — across shopping, dining, and activities. Using an AI-powered rewards platform, STR providers can enjoy increased booking conversion (43 percent on average) via a low-cost channel and build one-to-one relationships while rewarding guests for every interaction and driving repeat transactions via relevant, effective marketing offers and personalized rewards.

The best part? Using a data-backed loyalty program tailored to the habits and preferences, STR providers can easily grow guest lifetime value, positioning them as a sought-after accommodation for future short-term stays. Not to mention, loyal guests often serve as ambassadors of the properties they know and love, especially when they’re incentivized to share their experience and book again. Short-term rentals are an integral (and lucrative) segment of the post-pandemic hospitality landscape, and it’s time they leverage a rewards program to differentiate themselves from competitor properties while giving their guests every reason to book with them again in the future.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie

What Today’s Guests Really Want When It Comes To Hotel Loyalty Programs Might Surprise You

At a dinner last year, I overheard a conversation unfolding between two other guests, one of whom worked at a PR agency. “Believe it or not, micro-influencers are often more impactful from a social media marketing standpoint than the big players,” she shared, at which point my ears pricked up to listen closely. “Campaigns with someone at a high level of fame, like Kim Kardashian, will cost a company incomprehensible sums of money – which may be fine if the ROI justifies it, but if the engagement is predominantly views and general sponsored exposure rather than tangible actions, it’s not necessarily a smart business move. On the other hand, content creators with a smaller following – say, 5,000-15,000 followers – are generally more connected to their following, and their posts and recommendations may be viewed as more genuine and organic, so the ROI is often better.”

As she explained this, I found myself nodding along. Social media marketing is hardly my area of expertise or interest; however, there is a lesson in this sentiment. Bigger isn’t always better, and smaller businesses now have an opportunity to outrun their larger competitors in the business world. Using the dinner guest’s example, years ago, micro-influencers wouldn’t have represented an advertising opportunity because we lacked exposure to them. In today’s day and age, social media has created a new medium for impact and reach, allowing smaller players to benefit from the same exposure and connection opportunities traditionally enjoyed by celebrities. I see a similar trend when I apply this lens to business, specifically the hospitality industry. With the continued emergence of next-gen technology and digital innovations, independent operators that were once confined to the shadows of large chain hotels can finally edge ahead. Social media is to micro-influencers what innovative technology is to independent hotels – and now, more than ever, hotels should leverage that advantage.

Technology (and the way companies adopt and leverage it) is the primary competitive differentiator between the hospitality brands that succeed and those that struggle in our ever-changing and ever-challenging landscape. In fact, if you ask me, next-gen technology is leveling the playing field for independent hotels in the race for guest loyalty.

The Independent Advantage

When we look at the hospitality landscape, specifically, it’s essential to take note of the advantages held by independent operators. While large chains benefit from brand power, recognition, and larger marketing budgets, independent hotels experience more autonomy, freedom, and agility. They can capitalize on guests’ demand for unique, personalized experiences with experiential offerings that don’t have to adhere to strict brand standards like those properties tied to a large chain.

A more personalized offering also empowers these hotels to establish more meaningful connections with guests to keep them coming back. As you might have guessed, that perceived intimacy and personal connection can go a long way in guest satisfaction and loyalty. With the additional influence of next-gen technology, independent hotels can prioritize their independence while simultaneously streamlining and automating their operations similarly to their larger competitors. Moreover, many modern hospitality platforms allow hotels to offer data-backed personalization that directly benefits the guest experience.

Many of our Laasie clients are independent hotels, and like most, they don’t have a lot of group brand recognition to attract direct bookings, so they often have to rely on OTAs to drive their revenue. When visitors engage with Laasie’s incentives throughout their booking journey, hotels see much higher booking conversion rates. Additionally, guests love the rewards offered – they select rewards a whopping 80% of the time! The platform is designed to encourage members to book directly again and again with personalized, instantly-selectable rewards that only get more perfect with every booking.

The impact of technology adoption is far-reaching, empowering hotel teams to mitigate workflow inefficiencies, reduce operational pressure on staff, enhance productivity, improve service, and better connect with guests via the service mediums they prefer. The writing is on the wall – where independent properties lack resources and massive budgets, they can close the gap with intuitive technology that exists to change how hospitality teams of any size serve guests.

New tools for a changing era

In an article posted to Skift this year, the author wrote, “Traveler expectations have shifted dramatically since before the pandemic. To capture demand in a competitive market, independent hotel brands must deliver a compelling alternative to the traditional loyalty programs the large chains offer.” Citing Chris Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the article noted that the hospitality industry had seen a huge shift towards leisure travel. “So we need to be more responsive to the needs of those travelers,” said Harley. “For one thing, they’re asking for more flexibility on how they earn and spend rewards, including the chance to accrue and redeem rewards close to home.”

This sentiment speaks to an emerging trend – hotel loyalty models, which have remained unchanged for many years, are finally beginning to shift in a more innovative and personalized direction. Fortunately, next-generation loyalty technology works to champion this transition, guiding hotels along the path to a new kind of loyalty. By moving beyond the constraints of legacy loyalty programs, modern loyalty technology adopts a rewards-based model that leverages data-backed personalization and instant gratification to incentivize guest behavior and enhance satisfaction with each transaction moment. Rewards-based insights for audience building and guest acquisition help hotels get closer to their guests, capitalizing on their advantage as an independent property with enhanced service autonomy. Even better, this technology is fully customizable, meaning it can be adapted to the needs of any independent hotel and launched within days, with no operational headaches.

While many large hotel chains focus on legacy, points-based reward systems, the instant gratification rewards-based loyalty model provides independent hotels with an incredible opportunity to differentiate their property while delighting guests at every turn. With the help of next-generation loyalty technology, independent hotels can truly capitalize on their competitive advantages and not only make the ongoing race between independents and large hotel brands fair – but maybe even win.

Ellis Connolly

Consumer demand for immediate gratification has revolutionized retail and inspired hotels to meet emerging guest expectations with instant loyalty rewards

The exchange of goods and services is a critical cog in the wheel of how our world works. As we skim through the pages of history books, we are met with countless, comparatively archaic examples of what we know now to be retail commerce. But even just a few decades ago, many of the digitally-empowered conveniences that define our retail experiences today might have seemed, at that time, far-fetched.

Let’s take, for example, the evolution of retail shipping. At one time, consumers expected to wait weeks – maybe even months – for their orders to arrive. Today, however, express shipping has become the new norm, with consumers expecting their order to arrive on their doorstep in 1-3 days or, in some cases, within the same day. And much of the time, for free!

In a 2015 blog by PARCEL, the author described Amazon’s incredible influence on rapidly changing shipping standards. “Being the titan that it is, whatever Amazon decides to do affects all retailers,” the post read. “As a result, two-day free shipping has become the norm of e-commerce, or put another way. It is the new minimally acceptable expectation. Big box and smaller-sized retailers alike have to change and adapt to compete with Amazon. Major retailers such as Borders and RadioShack have disappeared, mainly because they couldn’t keep up with the changing environment. Today's consumers have more knowledge, demand instant gratification, and use digital merchandise whenever available.”

Just five years ago, industry experts had moved on to highlight next-day shipping as the future of retail. For retailers, quickly getting products into customers' hands has become one of the most crucial elements of business success. Recent studies show that 61% of shoppers want their items delivered within three hours of purchase, while 80% of buyers want Same-day shipping. 17% of online shoppers will abandon a brand due to shipping delays.

Free same-day shipping has revolutionized the retail industry and acts as a competitive differentiator between brands vying for consumer wallet share and loyalty. In the past, it may have been enough to offer customers free shipping, but today, same-day shipping has redefined the landscape and, in turn, consumer expectations. This is a widely celebrated innovation that can no longer be resisted by any business hoping to remain competitive. For hospitality, we see the emergence of instant hotel rewards transforming loyalty programs and spearheading a similar shift in the industry - with savvy hoteliers ready to adapt.

The Link Between Same-Day Shipping and Instant Loyalty Rewards

First came expedited shipping, then came two-day shipping, and, finally, we arrived at free next-day and same-day shipping. For a few decades, the retail industry has shifted to prioritize convenience and instant gratification, which, as we know, is aligned with modern consumer preferences. Comparatively, guest loyalty has long remained somewhat stagnant in the hospitality market. Much like the retail shipping options of the past, legacy loyalty programs rely on delayed gratification. These systems are built upon a point-based, volume model which allows guests to unlock reward tiers as they continue to book with the same hotel or airline. Over time, guests accumulate enough points to qualify for higher value rewards, which should help enhance their on-property experience and instill long-term loyalty.

While this concept is simple and effective on paper, it’s important to note that the landscape it exists in has changed. Travel behavior and preferences have shifted, with many guests now booking trips at different frequencies and eager to explore new destinations while also craving a more meaningful and instant connection with their selected hospitality brands. Guests who do not travel to the same hotel multiple times a year, but still represent a great value to hotels whenever they book, can no longer capitalize on a volume-based system in the way that segments, like business travelers, have in the past. More importantly, many younger travelers (Millennials and Gen X) are interested in boutique offerings championed by independent hotels and actively seeking more personalized experiences. In fact, surveys published in 2018 found that just 30% of Millennials are satisfied with the programs they are offered, compared to 56% of baby boomers. At that time, 57% of polled millennials reported that they let their hotel loyalty points disappear, significantly more than any other age group. This is especially alarming when we consider the fact that Millennials reportedly travel more than any other age group in history.

Although legacy loyalty programs exist to incentivize direct bookings and long-term guest loyalty, we have entered an era in which they may be missing the mark for a large population of travelers. Like the retail industry, hospitality is immersed in the demand for convenience and hyper-personalization. Through technology like Laasie, hotels can finally upgrade to our industry’s equivalent of free same-day shipping: instant, personalized rewards.

Out With the Old, In With the New

So, what exactly is new-age loyalty? Powered by AI, the Laasie rewards platform is exceptionally dynamic and customizable, empowering hotels to reward guests for their actions (booking decisions, upgrades, feedback surveys, social media actions, etc.) while generating insights from every interaction. At the same time, using a Content Optimization Engine, hotels can seamlessly optimize campaign designs and messaging to maximize conversion and guest satisfaction while ensuring guests are presented with relevant, hyper-personalized rewards that mean something to them.

It’s a simple but impactful (aka profitable) concept – offer guests instantly redeemable rewards customized to their interests and values, removing the barriers that once existed within traditional loyalty system hierarchies. With access to an open marketplace of thousands of rewards partners (local, national, and global), including retail rewards, dining experiences, and exciting activities, hotels can ensure something special and, more importantly, instantly tangible to offer to every guest.

Give Guests What They Want

If a consumer has their eye on a specific item that multiple retailers sell, and only one of those retailers offers free next-day or same-day shipping, which retailer do you think will win that business? Even if that consumer doesn’t need that item immediately, the appeal of convenience and instant gratification is often undeniably effective. Similarly, suppose a traveler who wants to book an upcoming trip is deciding between two competing hotel properties. In that case, one offers a traditional loyalty program while another provides an instant rewards program (perhaps in combination with a conventional loyalty program); which property do you think they will choose?

Now, more than ever, travelers and consumers crave autonomy over their experience, enhanced personalization, and unparalleled convenience. These elements of service are now the norm of any industry and the minimally acceptable expectation. Just as the retail industry had to adapt to the demand for more expedited shipping, the hospitality industry must adapt to the demand for more personalized and tangible loyalty programs that reward travelers in meaningful ways throughout their entire guest journey.

The best of both worlds combination of transactional and experiential benefits, along with enticing incentivized engagement, drives positive guest experiences and revenue

If I were to ask you about your best rewards program experience, what would come to mind? Conversely, if I were to ask you about your worst rewards program experience, what comes to mind? This is an exceedingly valuable exercise for hoteliers with their sights set on the moving target of guest loyalty in the modern world. Because to define the loyalty paradigm of the future, we must first define what does (and doesn’t) work within our current protocols and platforms.

Although there is certainly an opportunity – if not an outright demand – for the evolution of legacy loyalty systems, it’s essential to recognize that traditional loyalty is not, in itself, a failed experiment. Loyalty programs can, in fact, work to elicit guest satisfaction, and global travelers are, in fact, capable of exhibiting loyalty. The lapse in guest loyalty behavior we are witnessing today is not a testament to the end of loyalty – it’s simply a call to action for hoteliers to revisit (and perhaps, adjust) their playbook.

A better, more engaging loyalty program doesn’t necessarily require our industry to start from scratch; rather, be open to exploring a new approach to guest loyalty that is not only innovative but can build upon existing loyalty programs and structure. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” is the classic adage, but, in this case, a new sentiment reveals itself: Identify what is broken, salvage what works, and develop a solution that fills in the gaps.

The Pros and Cons of Traditional Loyalty

Traditional, ‘legacy’ loyalty systems operate on a relatively simple concept: encourage customer action (in this case, a booking decision) by rewarding guests with points which, over time, accumulate to qualify that guest for reward tiers. Much like a ‘frequent flyer’ program, this system encourages repeat booking decisions. The only way guests can qualify for high-value rewards is to continuously book at the same hotel.

In an article published in Forbes earlier this year, author Zsuzsa Kecsmar spoke specifically about this approach, noting the limitations of loyalty programs centered solely around the buying cycle. “But if loyalty programs are built around transaction-based thinking and marketing, they won't be capable of building real brand loyalty. And that's an argument I see play out a lot online and in the boardrooms: "Isn't the loyalty program a discount scheme?" "Does it really have the power to build true loyalty?,” she explained. “So, yes, loyalty programs have the power to create true loyalty, but first, companies need to stop thinking within the confines of the buying cycle.”

In many ways, Kecsmar is correct. Guest behavior and preferences are ever-changing, and loyalty systems must evolve to reflect those changes. However, these traditional loyalty systems have benefitted major hotel chains, especially among boomer travelers. To this effect, in 2019, loyalty programs helped major hotel chains increase repeat business. According to research, over 59.2% of room nights at the major hotel chains were booked by loyalty members, and 62% at Marriott and Hilton (Kalibri Labs).

When we look at younger travelers, however, we see a different story. Surveys published in 2018 found that just 30% of Millennials are satisfied with the loyalty programs they are offered, compared to 56% of baby boomers. In fact, 57% report that they have let their hotel loyalty points disappear, significantly more than any other age group. Why does this matter? Well, research indicates that millennials travel more than any previous age group in history.

Moreover, when we look at independent hotels, we realize another gap in the traditional, points-based strategy. Unfortunately, less than 10% of independents have any form of a loyalty program or guest appreciation program, and repeat business is reportedly only in the range of 10%-15%. We also have to acknowledge that, in the wake of the pandemic, many hotel loyalty programs had to undergo drastic changes, as travel had effectively come to a standstill, and hoteliers could no longer capitalize on the purchase moment. If no one could travel, how could anyone take advantage of traditional, transaction-based rewards models?

So, do these observations mean we scrap traditional loyalty programs altogether, even those which have been well received by select demographics at major hotels? Not necessarily.

A ‘Best of Both Worlds’ Approach

In many cases, major hotel chains will not want to completely abandon the white-labeled, points-based loyalty systems which have long become synonymous with their brand. In this case, a call for continued innovation and creativity does not necessarily render traditional systems obsolete; that is, as long as those hotels are willing to explore additional programs that look to fill in the gaps that traditional loyalty fails to address.

The points-based loyalty systems of the past are, as we know, based on a delayed gratification model, which requires guests to book directly (often at a high frequency) at the same hotel to accumulate enough points to unlock attractive rewards (discounted stays, free upgrades, etc.). This model, as we know, does appeal to some travelers who are accustomed to this format and can utilize those points before they expire. However, next-generation loyalty, centered instead on delayed gratification and personalized rewards, allows hotels to simultaneously take care of and establish a 1-to-1 relationship with younger leisure travelers who exhibit different travel behaviors. With this in mind, we created Laasie – a platform capable of creating (and maintaining) a new kind of loyalty through AI and instant gratification while capturing the guests that traditional loyalty programs neglected.

Looking beyond a singular transaction moment, this new era of loyalty asks hoteliers to offer their guests more personalized, instantly tangible rewards that incentivize guests to partake in a variety of actions (beyond the booking decision). Unlike most traditional programs, guests are granted access to a curated marketplace of thousands of rewards partners offering instantly redeemable, high-value incentives (products, discounts, experiences, etc.) across shopping, dining, and activities to breathe new life into guest loyalty. Finally, guest loyalty can be viewed as a meaningful influence on the guest experience and a key revenue driver rather than a cost to the hotel.

Using a more dynamic loyalty platform, any hotel can build upon their existing loyalty programs to reward customers for their actions in a new way while generating insights from every interaction. With the allure of points-based, delayed gratification offered by traditional programs still intact, hotels can implement Laasie’s platform to simultaneously tap into the power of instant gratification and personalization, ensuring they have a program in place that will appeal to every kind of traveler.

If the goal of a loyalty program is to attract more business and encourage repeat business, shouldn’t hotels cast as wide a net as possible? Does the selection of a loyalty program always have to be reduced to a dogmatic game of ‘this or that,’ legacy or next generation? If you ask me, no. I think the future of hospitality loyalty will be unlocked with a program that combines what worked for travelers in the past with what we know appeals to modern travelers in the present. Finally, hotels can adopt a ‘best of both worlds’ approach, which sees traditional loyalty programs and new-age, instant reward programs working together seamlessly to capture and delight more travelers than ever before.

Ellis Connolly

Guest relationships are relationships, so loyalty and trust have to be earned - Here’s the guide on how to do it

In a 2020 article published in Forbes titled, “The Five Love Languages Of Account Engagement,” the author explained that when they wanted to learn more about relationships, they picked up a book. Specifically, they picked up Gary Chapman’s 1992 bestseller, The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. “As a pastor, Gary worked with couples who loved each other but had different communication styles, primarily in how they expressed love,” she wrote. “It sounds odd, but communicating love profoundly affects relationships. If you don’t understand each other’s languages, it’s pretty hard to build bonds and trust.” The author quickly drew a parallel between the romantic examples Chapman detailed and the relationships between businesses and their customers. “Our businesses depend on us building bonds and trust with customers and future customers. What can the five love languages teach us about better prospecting buyers?”

This line of questioning is entirely relevant – any business, regardless of industry, must find ways to connect with their customers or clients. Beyond seeking out a high-quality product or service, consumers want to feel understood by the brands they purchase from, and that connection can’t be achieved without effective communication strategies. Much like our romantic relationships, businesses can have all the right intentions and still deliver a sentiment or gesture in a way that falls flat with the customer they hope to engage. In simple terms, they are simply speaking the wrong “love” language to their customer.

The concept of "love languages" shows couples how to give each other love in ways that it is best received. The five love languages are as follows:

• Acts of Service (Doing helpful things for your partner)

• Quality Time (Spending meaningful time with your partner)

• Physical Touch (Being close to and caressed by your partner)

• Words of Affirmation (Saying supportive things to your partner)

• Gifts (Giving your partner gifts that tell them you were thinking about them)

Understanding these love languages and how they apply to guest relationships can help hotels connect with their guests more effectively. This becomes especially relevant in the world of hospitality, as hotels work to understand (and more importantly, win the favor of) the modern guest. In fact, it could be argued that understanding love languages applies to virtually every part of the hospitality experience (because it does). You’re not finding the perfect guest, and you’re looking at who your guests are as they are and speaking to them. The more you speak your guest’s language, the easier it is to develop relevant and effective messages for them.

Still, there is perhaps one arena in which the importance of this philosophy is undeniable: guest loyalty.

Spoiler Alert: Guest Loyalty Isn’t Dead

Of course, any mention of guest loyalty may be met with some degree of apprehension in the current landscape. Not because the relevance of guest loyalty is in question, but rather, because it’s increasingly complex for hoteliers to earn the loyalty of their guests. The hospitality market has always been competitive, but now, with an influx of accommodation options, including large chain hotels, boutique properties, and Airbnb rentals, combined with ever-changing guest expectations and travel trends, guests can be incredibly selective with their purchase behavior.

Believe it or not, guest loyalty isn’t dead. It’s there for the taking – as it always has been – it just requires hotels to work more intelligently and personally. If the loyalty program of yesterday is no longer enticing guests today, it’s time to come to the table with something new. To move beyond a transactional relationship that is unlikely to garner feelings of connection and loyalty, hoteliers must focus first on fostering meaningful relationships with guests by getting to know their unique needs and expectations. And yet, traditionally, hospitality loyalty programs have focused exclusively on a transaction (the booking decision) while offering guests rewards via a point-based, volume model. As we look around at our landscape, it’s easy to recognize how these systems have fallen short. Modern guests crave loyalty programs that offer instant, tangible, and personalized value.

This is where the idea of love languages comes into play. When you understand what motivates travelers and how they communicate (and receive) appreciation, you unlock a critical roadmap to earning their favor and long-term loyalty.

Taking a Page Out of Sephora’s Book

Let’s consider a real-life example of this ideology at work. Sephora, the beloved French beauty brand with a cult-like following of loyal customers, offers a truly best-in-class loyalty program. Why is it so great? Because it not only provides ‘tiers’ of rewards – it pays close attention to customers (who they call Beauty Insider members) and offers delightfully tailored rewards. At every purchase, members are prompted to select from a range of “trial-size” products or can exchange points (earned at every purchase) for non-product rewards, including in-store makeovers or discounted purchases. They also offer members early access to sales, private shopping events, and yearly birthday gifts.

Looking beyond the purchase moment, Sephora’s Beauty Insider Community is focused on “building an exclusive community” of customers. This program acts as a well-oiled, loyalty-driving machine, tapping into the power of emotional perks and inclusivity, as well as instant, personalized perks and rewards based on a careful analysis of consumers’ purchase behavior and product preference. With over 17 million members in North America alone, the loyalty program members reportedly drive 80% of sales while also providing strong, organic publicity to the brand.

There is no denying it – Sephora is effectively speaking the language of its customers, and both the brand and those who purchase from it are reaping the rewards (literally). Rather than assuming a one-size-fits-all approach, Sephora seems to understand that what means something to one customer may not resonate with another. Instead of appealing to a small customer set, they have built out a program that can be customized according to each customer’s preferences, interests, and values (in other words, their love languages). As you might have guessed, hotel loyalty programs should abide by the same proven framework.

Fortunately, Lassie has developed a comprehensive E-Book, The 5 Languages of Guest Loyalty: How to build relationships that drive more bookings and keep guests coming back, which promises to help hoteliers become fluent in the language of guest connection. Throughout each chapter, we examine the current loyalty landscape within hospitality, identify what works (and what doesn’t), and give you the tools to build one-to-one relationships with guests, enhance every interaction and touch-point (both online and on-property), drive repeat transactions, and effectively grow the lifetime value of each guest.

Click here to download the free guide now.

The differences between large hotel chains and independent properties are well understood across our industry. Where large brands and franchisees benefit from substantial purchasing power and marketing budgets, independent hotels benefit from creative freedom; they are free to establish their own unique brand standards and offer a more “boutique” or otherwise unique experience than what is provided by their larger competitors. Often, independent properties can offer more personalized service – they know their customers in a way that the local Mariott or Best Western likely can’t, simply due to the sheer size and scale of their operation.

However, in a world where OTA commissions still eat away at a hotel’s bottom line and conversion rates and conversion rates remain at about 2%, the deep pockets of larger hotel brands are – simply put – hard to compete with. In fact, according to Phocuswire, global hotel gross bookings amounted to $523.7 billion in 2019, with OTAs capturing two-thirds of online sales. Not to mention, the cost of guest acquisition in hospitality is an average of 15 to 25% of guest-paid revenue, with some hotels spending as much as 35 percent of guest-paid revenue to put new heads in beds. For independent hoteliers, this means a lot of money is being left on the table (or handed over to OTAs) as they suffer the consequence of being a small fish in an exceedingly large pond. Don’t you think it’s time to level the playing field?

Fortunately, this is where guest loyalty comes in – a reimagined guest loyalty system, that is. By shifting away from traditional loyalty programs, we’ve been able to unearth a more effective way to engage and delight guests and, perhaps more importantly, a way to capture the 98% of website visitors that don’t book right away. When we solve the conversion problem, independent hotels can lessen their reliance on OTAs and, in turn, remain competitive against large hotel brands that may otherwise outpace them at every turn. The secret? Instant gratification is offered via personalized rewards that aren’t solely tied to booking decisions.

Don’t Just Reward Guests – Thrill Them

Hotel loyalty programs have always been well-intentioned and built upon a simple principle: reward guests when they book with your hotel. Typically, these programs adhere to a points-based model, which aims to achieve guest loyalty by promising guests better rewards the more they book with a hotel. Simple, certainly. But is it effective? Only to a point, it would seem. Over the years, hotel loyalty programs have received a great deal of attention (and often, criticism) simply due to their lack of tangibility and personalization.

Modern guests do not lack loyalty; instead, they have elevated expectations and standards for guest service and crave a more personalized loyalty experience that is easily accessible in nature. A points-based model, while well-intentioned, relies on the appeal of delayed gratification, which can only be effective if those points don’t expire before guests can utilize them or if desirable rewards aren’t exclusive to the highest loyalty tiers. If the rewards offered to guests are impersonal or irrelevant, they fail to delight altogether.

Moreover, these programs often exist to reward only one aspect of the guest journey: the decision to book. What about those guests that don’t book right away? Shouldn't independent hoteliers cast a wider net if we are trying to increase conversion rates and capture as many guests as possible? The answer, if you ask me, is unequivocally yes. Now, more than ever, independent hoteliers should move beyond the loyalty models championed by larger brands to embrace a version of guest loyalty that rewards guests and effectively delights them at every stage of their journey.

No-Strings Attached Loyalty is the Great Equalizer

With the Laasie loyalty platform, independent hotels can abandon the tier and point-based solutions of the past to reward guests (and potential guests) with every interaction online or on-property and, in turn, create dynamic, one-to-one guest relationships. This creates the foundation for a powerful membership program that offers more relevant rewards via a marketplace of 1,000+ high-value reward partners and makes those rewards instantly attainable. As guests interact with your website, the rewards platform will be hard at work in the background, collecting relevant and appropriate data points (with customer opt-in) to serve up actionable insights to your hotel. Armed with this information, independent hotels can automatically offer personalized and instantly-selectable rewards and incentives that encourage members to book direct rather than via OTAs, drive repeat transactions, and grow guest lifetime value.

More importantly, these incentives are not tied exclusively to a transaction but rather aim to achieve “surprise and delight moments" with current and prospective guests that truly drive long-term loyalty and reciprocity. This is what we call “no strings attached” loyalty – a reimagined approach to traditional loyalty that not only rewards booking behavior but works to establish meaningful, long term relationships with guests.

Finally, Laasie’s Retain platform empowers independent hotels to capture travelers still in the early stages of their booking journey, by offering them access to a personalized insider program that promises to delight them with offers even if they don’t book right away. No need for big-budget technology or the traditional loyalty programs that large hotel brands use. Independent hotels can drive direct bookings and enhance guest loyalty with a modern, AI-powered loyalty platform that allows guests to look, get hooked, and later book.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie

How independent hotels can deliver highly personalized and eco-conscious rewards that delight guests and demonstrate shared values

The topic of climate change and sustainability has reached a fever pitch. The WHO predicts a $2-4 billion USD cost to public health, and it’s viewed as a national responsibility. From battery-powered cars to eliminating single-use plastic and embracing a more climate-friendly lifestyle, a worldwide commitment to sustainability is taking shape.

As green initiatives continue to take the world by storm, we quickly realize that no industry is exempt from its duty to reexamine and – where necessary – reimagine practices which may pose harm to our ever-fragile environment. Hospitality, as you might have guessed, is certainly no exception. Right now, hospitality brands aren’t simply catering to the modern guest; rather, they cater to the modern, increasingly eco-conscious guest. Now, more than ever, travelers care deeply about sustainability, and hotels are expected to welcome this culture shift in a quick, enthusiastic fashion.

While many aspects of the hospitality industry could benefit from a sustainable makeover, there is one segment with the potential to contribute to this movement that hoteliers might be overlooking: guest loyalty. After all, if the loyalty programs of the past were designed for guests of the past, shouldn’t today's loyalty programs be designed with the eco-conscious guest in mind?

A New Era of Sustainability

Skift wrote in December of 2021, “sustainability can no longer be an afterthought for travel companies. Those that make bold moves now to redefine how things work for a reemerging sector have the potential to become industry leaders in an altered world.” Author Matthew Parsons reiterated this sentiment in February of this year when he shared that travel brands have “little choice but to make a fresh start with their loyalty programs,” because they can’t keep extending points and status forever.

Ultimately, this industry shift should come as no surprise. Hospitality, as we know, has long come under fire for maintaining legacy platforms and processes past their expiration date, and, at the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic flipped the travel landscape on its head. A recent study by travel company Virtuoso revealed that four in five people (82%) said the pandemic has made them want to travel more responsibly in the future. Moreover, almost three-quarters (72%) said travel should support local communities and economies, preserve destinations’ cultural heritage and protect the planet. Not only that, but a new Sustainable Travel Report released by Booking.com revealed that a large majority of global travelers (87%) say that they want to travel sustainably. However, 48% indicate they never, rarely, or only sometimes manage to travel sustainably.

With the hospitality loyalty segment primed for innovation, and travelers demonstrating a desire for more sustainable travel experiences, isn’t now the perfect time to reinvent guest loyalty for an eco-conscious world?

What Does Sustainable Loyalty Look Like?

We’ve spoken at length about the perceived limitations of traditional, point-based loyalty systems. This age-old format is volume-based (often to a detriment) and relies exclusively on the appeal of delayed gratification, attempting to entice guests with the promise of rewards further along in their guest journey. Often, points are difficult to redeem or may expire before they can be leveraged, which leads – understandably – to guest frustration and disappointment. More importantly, though, is the fact that traditional loyalty systems often fail to aptly personalize their offers simply because they aren’t designed to be personal. These are generally sweeping, one-size-fits-all programs that offer a hierarchy of rewards, with perceived value increasing with each tier even if the offering doesn’t necessarily resonate with the guest earning it.

As we’ve learned, today's guest is increasingly interested not only in the value offered by the hotels they frequent but also by the core values that those hotel brands exhibit. They aren’t simply invested in the look and feel of a hotel – they want to know what brands care about, what they prioritize within their operations, and whether or not those values align with their own. So isn’t there a great opportunity to be found in focusing on rewards geared toward the conscious and environmentally responsible traveler? If guests are looking for a loyalty system that is both unique and tangible, couldn’t hotels shift to an instant-gratification rewards model that curates personalized, eco-friendly rewards?

In fact, a study by The Vacationer revealed that 83% of respondents said sustainable travel was somewhat or very important to them; however, almost half (48%) of respondents said they would opt for such trips only if it did not inconvenience them. This is an interesting and important caveat – sustainability is important to guests, but guests are still hesitant to sacrifice certain conveniences and comforts to achieve it. With this in mind, the prospect of sustainable loyalty becomes even more appealing. With the right rewards program in place, hotels can help move travelers along the path to sustainable choices in the most convenient and organically incentivized manner possible. Rather than asking guests to sacrifice in order to make conscious decisions, hotels can reward them with opportunities to benefit the environment with eco-friendly upgrades, services, experiences, and other relevant offers from a network of reward partners.

A New and Improved Path Forward

While traditional loyalty programs are often defined by unattainable and impersonal reward tiers earned by an accumulation of posts, Laasie offers hotels a fresh approach to guest loyalty via an instant gratification rewards model. Hotels can now use a comprehensive, AI-powered platform to effectively reward customers for their actions while generating insights and building dynamic, one-to-one relationships that drive engagement and revenue at any touch-point or interaction along the guest journey.

Finally, hotels have the means to provide their guests with infinite tiers of highly personalized and eco-conscious rewards that delight guests and establish goodwill and demonstrate shared values. If hyper-personalization and sustainability are the future of hospitality, only one question remains – what are you waiting for?

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer

SAHARA Las Vegas has partnered with Laasie to reimagine an exciting new kind of guest loyalty program, the SAHARA Insider Program. Leveraging Laasie’s signature Retain platform, a powerful membership program created to cultivate dynamic, one-to-one relationships with guests, SAHARA has effectively enhanced its existing player's program to usher in a new era of guest loyalty.

SAHARA Las Vegas is completely remodeled and reimagined for a new era, offering guests an impressive variety of modern amenities and luxuries, an enticing selection of five-star dining options, and a world-class casino. Style and sophistication are synonymous with the SAHARA brand, and, with this in mind, the cultivation of a forward-facing technology stack remains of the utmost importance.

“We pride ourselves on offering guests a truly unique and intimate Vegas experience,” explains Kat Carrera, the Executive Director of Digital Marketing at SAHARA Las Vegas. “To offer this kind of experience at scale, we frequently examine our processes and platforms to identify opportunities for growth and evolution. To that effect, Laasie has been a great addition to our hotel loyalty technology stack. It has driven impressive booking growth in our direct channel while ensuring an instantly gratifying experience for our guests and no operational headache for our hotel staff.”

Harnessing the undeniable power of instant gratification and Laasie’s exclusive Rewards Network, SAHARA Las Vegas can now offer guests instant, high-value rewards at every interaction and touchpoint, both online and on-property. The new SAHARA Insider Program will grant guests access to Laasie’s open marketplace of local, national, and global rewards partners mindfully curated based on their interests and values. This platform is not only designed to delight guests and exceed expectations but will also seamlessly drive repeat transactions and grow customer lifetime value.

“With three distinct hotel towers that set a new standard for Vegas hospitality and personalized service, SAHARA has long been at the forefront of emerging trends and innovation,” shares Ellis Connolly, Chief Revenue Officer at Laasie. “When we think of leaders in the marketplace that are eager to explore bold new ideas and do things differently, SAHARA emerges as an obvious choice. Their commitment to personalization and exceptional service is unmatched. This partnership will introduce a new kind of loyalty program that will solidify and enhance their position as a sought-after destination and an industry leader.”

As an iconic Las Vegas experience, SAHARA will leverage this new partnership to better serve their guests and, more importantly, prove that guest loyalty isn’t a thing of the past – it just needs to be earned. “The SAHARA Insider program will drive revenue for our properties and give our guests access to exclusive experiences that are not to be missed,” shares Carrera. “We are incredibly excited to expand our partnership with Laasie with their next-gen loyalty product and continue to see their suite of instant-reward based products as differentiators for SAHARA Las Vegas.”

Laasie’s unique platform is unlike any other solution on the market, with a proven track record of increased conversions and net revenue. The lightweight, turnkey solution delivers incentives upon the desired action and rewards guests on the hotel’s website, while on-property, or traveling home. It also supports white labeling for all customer-facing interfaces to match a brand’s marketing guidelines.

To learn more about Laasie’s next-generation loyalty solution, please click here.

About Laasie

Laasie powers a new kind of loyalty for 1,200 hotels & resorts through AI and a network of 1,000+ instant gratification partners. Awarded the #1 Direct Booking Platform by HotelTechAwards, Laasie has driven $500 million in direct bookings. Today’s savvy customers are uninspired by yesterday’s rigid loyalty programs, often leaving with unused points and limited brand affinity. Laasie leverages AI to drive conversion and loyalty with personalized, instant rewards that motivate customer actions like booking directly, taking a survey, joining a marketing program, and more. The result? Customers enjoy enriched experiences with each brand interaction and partners benefit with increased net revenue, actionable data insights, strengthened customer relationships, and a scalable loyalty program that increases the lifetime value of every customer. To learn more, visit laasie.ai

About SAHARA Las Vegas

SAHARA Las Vegas epitomizes the timeless soul of Las Vegas. With a bold, sophisticated flair and a boutique approach to personal service, SAHARA provides guests an intimate and unexpected experience that sets a new standard for Vegas. Completely remodeled and reimagined for a new era, SAHARA offers three distinctive hotel towers, a variety of five-star dining options, and a world-class casino. With unexpected delights around every corner, SAHARA embodies the style, sophistication and playful sense of possibility that’s truly the spirit of Vegas - and brings the iconic Vegas experience to a whole new generation.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer

Hey Siri… play Loyalty by Kendrick Lamar!

Let’s talk about loyalty. We write songs about it; we study it; we try to identify it in friends, potential suitors, colleagues, and customers – loyalty is an omnipresent force in our lives, whether it exists in abundance or, in some cases, is perceivably lacking. Specifically, loyalty has gleaned no shortage of attention over the last few years in the business world. Across industries, marketers and business owners find themselves ruminating over the same question – is loyalty dead? Are modern customers incapable of exhibiting loyalty to the brands they purchase from? If not, why does customer loyalty feel increasingly elusive, if not entirely absent from the marketplace?

In the hospitality industry, specifically, this conversion continues to rear its ugly head at every turn. Why? Because our industry is perched atop a somewhat shaky foundation of antiquated processes and technology and, nestled right in the center is the traditional hotel loyalty program. At one time, these programs might have been considered the beating heart of hospitality, wrapping around guests like a warm hug that kept them coming back time and time again. But today? The hug isn’t just lukewarm – it’s often rejected altogether. Travelers have noticeably cooled towards providing generic loyalty programs, especially those of the point-based variety, which offer impersonal or otherwise intangible incentives. The list of grievances is not only lengthy but well understood; guests are tired of complicated loyalty programs and grand promises that fail to deliver, especially when hospitality brands seem to dangle an increasingly small carrot of a reward just beyond reach at every turn.

The inconvenient truth our industry needs to come to grips with is this: loyalty isn’t dead… it’s just really boring, and the way we’ve been doing it is no longer working.

Loyalty Shouldn’t Be Lackluster

Think back to your childhood – do you remember a holiday during which gifts were exchanged, where you were given a gift that was completely out of the scope of what you wanted? Now, think about that sinking feeling as you opened that gift and forced a smile across your face before surveying the room to make sure no one had picked up on your internalized disappointment. This is a meaningful scenario to depict because almost all of us have received a gift or a gesture that we didn’t like at one point or another. Unfortunately, the hospitality industry has made a habit of this exact exchange – giving lackluster gifts to unsatisfied parties. Where is the fun in that?

To put it simply, traditional loyalty programs often aren’t designed in a way that can elicit delight and surprise in the modern world. It’s not to say they aren’t well-intentioned; they simply aren’t built to offer an ‘on the nose’ experience in a world that demands personalization and relevance. Structurally, point-based systems may offer up some enticing rewards at a high tier, but those rewards cannot make an impact if guests can never reach them (or if their points expire before they get there). With this in mind, I urge hotel brands to consider the following questions:

1. Are your reward options diversified, personalized, and high-value?

2. If utilizing a tiered loyalty system, is the rewards hierarchy accessible enough for most of your guests to benefit?

3. Are the redemption rules attached to your program complicated, and do they change frequently?

4. Do you offer your guests instant gratification?

5. Do you clearly communicate your loyalty incentives to guests to maximize touch-points and prolong the delight of a purchase moment?

6. Are you mistaking habit for loyalty?

7. Do guests ever offer feedback that highlights or praises your loyalty offers?

Answering these questions should not only help you discern the quality of your current loyalty program but will also help guide you towards a new kind of loyalty.

Loyalty – Reimagined, and Reinvigorated

Every industry, and every industry segment, needs a make-over. Guest loyalty, in this instance, was long overdue and now ripe for transformation. We can bring a new kind of loyalty into view by loosening our grip on the point-based loyalty programs of the past. If hotels are promising guests an exceptional, meaningful, personalized experience, they need to deliver.

After all, failure to deliver on that brand promise erodes guest trust. According to Edelman’s Trust Barometer, people’s trust in those around them has imploded, reaching an all-time low. Their 2022 report indicated that trust in business sits at 54% – for hospitality brands looking to build loyalty with their guests, this is important to understand. Loyalty and trust go hand in hand – if you want a traveler to express loyalty towards your brand, you have to earn their trust. Establishing a rewards-based loyalty system that builds dynamic customer relationships and drives guest engagement is, in my opinion, the best place to start.

Today, more than ever, travelers seek cohesive and seamless experiences that indicate mutual investment. If a hospitality brand wants a traveler to invest in them, they must also invest in that traveler. Fortunately, personalization is a meaningful currency and offers hotels a great deal of ‘bang for their buck’ in the realm of guest loyalty. Relevance drives revenue, and loyalty is a dish best served personalized to the wants and needs of the guest sitting down to eat. With this in mind, Laasie’s rewards-based loyalty platform uses artificial intelligence and big data to present an attractive (and more importantly, relevant) selection of instantly-selectable rewards to guests at critical touchpoints during their journey. Whether rewarding a traveler for clicking ‘book now’ or simply participating in a survey, hotel brands can offer current and prospective guests moments of instant delight and surprise via our network of high-value reward partners (like Whole Foods, Sephora, Doordash, Nordstrom, Nike, GQ, and more).

Using this turnkey solution, whether on its own or paired with an existing loyalty system, hotels can send guests a clear (and increasingly necessary) message: We know you. More importantly, we care about your satisfaction long before you even step foot on our property. And if you still needed convincing, well, the numbers don’t lie. Using a loyalty model based on instant gratification can garner a 43% higher direct booking conversion rate and a 35X greater return on investment. More importantly, it provides guests with instant gratification and relevant rewards and recognition that they’ve always wanted, that traditional loyalty programs always failed to deliver.

So, is loyalty dead? It certainly doesn’t have to be. The way I see it, hospitality brands have two options: continue to rely on a broken system or breathe new life into a core aspect of business that benefits hotels and their guests equally. I don’t know about you, but I’m opting for the latter.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie

Planning a trip is no small task, and, in many cases, prospective travelers immerse themselves in destination and hotel research before making a booking decision. Studies show that travelers conduct an average of 33 searches and check 12 travel sites prior to booking, with online searches spanning two minutes to six hours. Research also indicates that this process can take 19 days or, for those content to take their time, up to 100 days.

Within an increasingly competitive marketplace, hotels of all types find themselves investing more and more of their marketing budget to drive traffic and direct bookings. But how can hotels protect that investment and maximize ROI? How can they better identify and cater to guest needs while capitalizing on the most meaningful touch-points along the booking journey to encourage a purchase decision? In simple terms, how can hotels stack the conversion odds in their favor in a world where high conversion rates are increasingly challenging to earn and maintain?

Just as you can “bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink,” you can bring a potential guest to your hotel’s website, but their booking decision is never guaranteed. Successful brands aren’t at mercy to the elusive nature of guest favor; rather, they understand and cater to this reality. These hotels understand the booking journey and effectively optimize for it.

Optimizing The Booking Journey

Hotels spend a great deal of money, time, and resources to make travelers aware of their brand and, more importantly, get them onto their website. In a survey of representatives of the hotels and motels industry in the United States, it was found that in 2020 the sector spent roughly 2.72 billion U.S. dollars on advertising. In the year prior to that, the industry's ad expenditures reached 1.36 billion dollars.

This is a necessary investment. However, it is one that should be simultaneously protected with bottom-of-the-funnel tools that encourage and reinforce conversion. Within the hospitality booking funnel, one wrong move can ensure a prospective guest takes their business elsewhere and, in some cases, they may never look back.

In general, the traveler's path to booking can be divided into three main components:

1. Brand awareness

2. Consideration and competitor analysis

3. Conversion

In the hospitality industry, a great deal of attention is paid to the top of the funnel; after all, how can any hotel brand expect to convert prospective travelers to loyal guests if those travelers aren’t first made aware of that hotel brand? Conversion often cannot be achieved without brand awareness. A study from McKinsey revealed that brands in the initial consideration set were more than twice as likely to win business compared to brands considered later in the decision journey.

Sealing the Deal With More Direct Bookings

We’ve all been there – the moment in which your booking decision still hangs in the balance while your mouse hovers enticingly over the ‘Book Now’ button. This is the inflection point of the sales funnel when the tug-of-war between the seller and buyer is finally set to give way to a successful outcome. However, this moment often represents a significant pain point for hotel brands that are struggling to achieve high conversion rates.

Hotels should invest in tools that encourage and reinforce both the decision to purchase and post-purchase evaluation. Perhaps the most valuable (and most underrated) tool hotel brands have in their arsenal to achieve this is instant gratification. Using a modern approach to guest loyalty, hotels can seamlessly motivate customer loyalty with personalized, instantly-selectable rewards that help their brand increase net revenue, drive member engagement, and build dynamic customer relationships.

Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and big data, next-generation rewards platform Laasie incentivizes desired behavior and builds brand affinity while helping to maximize the purchase moment and protect top-of-funnel investments. After all, what is the use of those top-of-funnel investments if hotels cannot seal the deal with a conversion at the end of the funnel? Just as the success of a football team is gauged by the number of touchdowns they achieve in a game, the success of a hotel is determined by a healthy conversion strategy that continuously ushers loyal customers onto their property.

Offering guests instant, hyper-personalized rewards during the booking journey isn’t an expense. Rather, it’s a revenue driver that helps to push that guest over the finish line towards a reservation, helps to enhance and extend feelings of post-purchase satisfaction, and keeps them coming back. By shifting away from the traditional loyalty model that favors delayed gratification, hotels can effectively drive direct bookings, differentiate their brand from competitors, and establish a relationship with guests that keeps them coming back, time and time again.

So maybe you can bring a horse to water AND make it drink after all!

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie

What is the best way to incentivize behavior? This line of questioning keeps marketers and business owners up at night. Why? Because brands can’t protect their bottom line without generating revenue, and they can’t generate revenue without nudging their customer toward a desired purchase.

Hospitality professionals, especially, are familiar with this challenge, as travelers are constantly inundated with options and competing product offerings at every stage of their journey down the sales funnel. Moreover, guest loyalty is increasingly difficult to earn and maintain, even after they have clicked ‘book now’. The modern guest is both particular and elusive – eager to travel and explore the world but often not enamored enough by any particular brand or OTA to exclusively hand over their business without carefully considering competitor offerings. Guests today don’t just want the best-perceived deal – they want the best service at the best value, and it’s up to hotels to edge their way to the front of the line with compelling, value-driven offers and effective, personalized marketing.

Fortunately, hospitality brands can effectively influence and predict how current and prospective travelers will engage with their product or offering with the right tools and strategies. In simple terms, if hoteliers understand the ‘why’ behind a purchase decision and identify ways to capitalize on the purchase moment, their property will be better equipped to stand out within an increasingly competitive marketplace. And while there is no perfect recipe for earning the favor of every potential guest, there is a key ingredient that has certainly earned its place in the kitchen – instant gratification.

Is FOMO Really Your Best Bet?

The term “FOMO” (fear of missing out) was first introduced in 2004. It was later added to the Oxford dictionary in 2013 as social media created an environment where FOMO reigned supreme. During this time, marketers realized that they could use this new social phenomenon to drive purchase behavior and/or consumer participation. How? Leveraging the fear of missing out (on a great deal, great experience, or fleeting opportunity) encourages consumers to make an impulse purchase or decision. The principle was simple – “Buy now, think later,” and brands who utilized this approach hedged their bets on the assumption that consumers would rather potentially regret an action than regret failing to act and becoming a victim of FOMO.

FOMO marketing can be achieved in a number of ways, including, but not limited to:

• Flash Sales: “Book Now or Pay More Later!”

• Invite-Only Sales: “VIP Access!”

• Seasonal Sales: “Our Biggest Sale of the Year!”

• Scarcity Messaging: “Only X Packages/Rooms Left” or “In High Demand!”

While this style of “urgency marketing” can be powerful, it can also be overused and, in some cases, may inspire feelings of distrust or resentment from customers. Although the desired outcome (a purchase decision) is positive in nature, this marketing approach ultimately relies on negative reinforcement (the fear of missing out) rather than positive reinforcement. In the realm of hospitality, specifically, this marketing style has also become rather saturated, and, amidst an increasingly crowded marketplace, it may feel to travelers that there is always a deal to be found, and the influence of FOMO wears thin.

Fortunately, this is where instant gratification comes in – taking the tried and true “FOMO” model and flipping it on its head to delight travelers at the moment of booking and encourage desired behaviors through positive reinforcement.

Instant Rewards, Instant Gratification

In 2017, Google researchers examined all the digital interactions in 60 seconds (on average), and the results might shock you. Google had 3.8 million search requests. More than 400 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube, viewers watched 87,000 hours of video on Netflix, and 65,000 photos were uploaded to Instagram. The takeaway? Consumers crave immediacy.

This is an important observation; just as fortune favors the bold, prospective travelers favor brands that cater to their need for instant gratification. Now, perhaps more than ever before, travelers don’t want to wait to be rewarded – any allure attached to the promise of a far-away perk is hardly tangible enough to inspire a booking decision or, more importantly, long-term loyalty. Instead, travelers are demonstrating a preference for the brands that not only personalize offers to be relevant but also offer immediate, high-value gratification attached to any purchase decision. No friction, no FOMO, no delay, just an instant reward at check-out reinforces their decision to book and inspires continued purchase behavior.

Some benefits of instant gratification rewards:

• Increases conversions

• Creates connections and builds trust through personalization

• Fosters customer retention and brand loyalty

• Captures information, preferences, and data

• It helps hotels learn more about their customers over time

• Reduces friction through seamless brand experiences

The positive purchasing psychology at work is easy to understand; by offering instantly selectable, personalized rewards at the moment of purchase, hospitality brands can nurture that customer at the most important point of the sales funnel. In simple terms, instant gratification helps to quell any feelings of buyer's remorse while building trust and connection with that guest before they even step foot on the property.

Moreover, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, hospitality brands can use a comprehensive rewards platform to get to know their guests better, which places hotels in the best possible position to meet – and exceed – guest expectations with personalized offers. Beyond the purchase moment, hoteliers can continue to leverage instant gratification to drive repeat transactions and grow customer lifetime value as guests become more engaged and increasingly delighted by the service offered by their selected hotel.

In today’s fast-paced and competitive landscape, guests have high expectations of convenience and a low tolerance for delays, gimmicks, or friction. If hotels want to foster loyalty and connect with their guests in a meaningful way, they need to focus on developing instant gratification strategies that act as the ultimate conversion catalyst.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie

Why do so many hotel loyalty programs fail? This is a good question, and it’s definitely one you should be asking if you are eager to set up a well-designed, effective loyalty program that mutually benefits your bottom line and your guests. These days, many guests feel loyalty programs no longer truly reward loyalty - but have become a marketing tool. In fact, less than half (46%) of high-value travelers are motivated by loyalty programs when booking travel. Why? Because many loyalty programs are barely hitting their mark.

There is also a discrepancy between hotel perceptions of loyalty programs. According to a study, hotel managers believe that 61% of guests sign up for loyalty programs while only 24% actually do in reality. Similarly, hotels perceive that 54% of guests will find offers relevant, while in reality, only 22% of guests believe that offers made by loyalty programs are relevant.

The hospitality industry sits atop the promise of guest-centric incentives, with a long list of loyalty programs. Many traditional loyalty programs have become a point of contention frequently presenting travelers with lackluster rewards or barriers to redemption that negate the desired effect of the program.

According to Accenture:

• Only 18% of consumers engage with every loyalty program they belong to.

• Just 22% of members say they are very satisfied with the personalization they receive in loyalty programs.

• 29% of customers wish that the rewards on offer were more interesting.

As explained in Deloitte’s Hotel Customer Loyalty survey, “to turn your customers into enthusiastic, even passionate brand devotees, you need to understand the patterns in how different travelers view and use rewards. And you have to use that insight to craft a program that stands above the ordinary and the expected.”

To understand what works (and perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t), we first must consider the most popular types of programs currently offered to travelers.

Points-Based Rewards

How It Works: Points-based reward systems operate on a basic principle – reward guests for taking action by offering them points they can redeem for free items or services, perks, upgrades, etc. These points do not hold any value beyond the brand offering them. Still, they can be leveraged for various actions even beyond booking/purchase behavior, such as social media engagement, reviews, and so on.

Often, point-based systems adhere to a tiered hierarchy that encourages guests to accumulate more points to reach a higher tier of perks and rewards. This format gives travelers a clear goal: the higher their tier (and the more they purchase from and engage with that hotel or airline), the more exclusive and exciting the rewards they’ll receive.

What It's Missing: Since point-based programs are free to sign up for, there is little to no barrier to entry in regards to participation; however, the ‘transaction first, benefits later’ often lacks the retention and enthusiasm it initially sets out to garner. According to a survey by Maritz Loyalty Marketing, 70% of customers abandon loyalty programs because it takes too long to gain enough points. Often, the rewards offered by these programs lack the personalization or perceived value required for those incentives to feel truly desirable or exclusive.

Ultimately, if hotels cannot recognize what perks guests really want, their point-based loyalty program will fail to incentivize guest behavior or long-term loyalty and retention truly.

Personalization is, after all, a primary driver of modern guest behavior. Google research indicates that 36% of travelers would likely pay more for services if a travel brand tailored its information and trip experiences to personal preferences or past behavior. Moreover, in some cases, the higher reward tiers, the more exclusive and desirable rewards are unattainable for most guests. By the time they accumulate enough points to unlock those rewards, some of their points may have already expired.

Cash-Back Programs How It Works: Cash-back rewards programs are reminiscent of points-based programs in many ways. Hotel guests become eligible for “cash-back” incentives when they spend a certain amount at a hotel. Much like your cash-back credit card, these programs are easy to opt-in to, and guests can earn a certain percentage of their purchase back to spend on the property or, in some cases, at partnering hotels and hospitality brands. Many independent hotels have tried this model in lieu of big-budget loyalty programs marketed by large brands.

What It's Missing: If it sounds pretty simple, that’s because it is – but what’s the catch? Just as the cash-back system is similar to its points-based counterpart, the criticisms associated with this model are related to perceived value and ease of redemption. According to loyalty veteran Howard Schneider, cashback rewards are not very motivational. “Cash is fungible and generic; and over time, consumers don’t even notice it,” and it comes off as nothing more than a small discount. Once cash is ‘returned,’ the guest can spend it anywhere else, which cuts off the cycle of profit for the hotel in question.

Frequently, guests may also face specific qualification barriers (i.e., minimum spend requirements) or will be unable to effectively utilize and enjoy their cash-back reward before the end of an earning period. Understandably, this can negate or diminish the perceived value of that rewards program in the eyes of a guest.

Instant Gratification Rewards System: A New Era of Loyalty

When considering the pros and cons of both points-based and cash-back loyalty systems, we recognize a theme – both models rely on delayed gratification. Yes, travelers are rewarded for taking action, but that reward cannot be realized or enjoyed until much later. Understandably, if the rewards offered down the line are perceivably lackluster, this format may not elicit much excitement from prospective travelers. Playing off this realization, a new kind of rewards system is born: an AI-powered, instant gratification loyalty model.

How It Works: The Laasie rewards system motivates customer loyalty with personalized, instantly-selectable rewards offered throughout the traveler’s journey (booking decisions, survey participation, etc.) via an extensive marketplace of high-value vendors. As soon as the guest performs the desired action, they can claim the personalized reward of their choice, which helps hospitality brands increase net revenue, drive member engagement, and build dynamic customer relationships. Finally, hotels can leverage AI and big data to motivate customer actions in a meaningful way, giving guests the instant gratification and recognition with every interaction they’ve desired – in a way traditional loyalty programs never could.

The best part? There is no downside. An instant-gratification rewards model provides tangible, undeniable value to both the hotel and the guest, leading to higher engagement and guest satisfaction. Using an instant gratification loyalty model, hotels enjoy increased booking conversion of 43% on average via a low-cost channel.

Much like point-based and cash-back systems, the barrier to entry is low but, in the case of Laasie’s reward platform, barriers to redemption are also eliminated. In contrast, the perceived value of rewards is heightened. Finally, hoteliers can benefit from a reimagined and reinvigorated loyalty program that isn’t an expense. Instead, it’s a true revenue driver and turn-key relationship builder unlike anything else on the market.

At the end of the day, there are two ways to grow your hotel’s business: first, attracting new guests. And second, by retaining existing guests and increasing guest lifetime value. As guest expectations evolve, the winners will be hotels that use innovative rewards programs that actively support guest desires for personalized offers, instant gratification, and tailored experiences.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie

Let’s imagine a scenario. The end of the calendar year is approaching, and your vacation days are starting to burn a hole in your pocket, so to speak. It’s been ages since you took some time off, and you’ve been eyeing sunny destinations at every opportunity, ready to whisk your family off for a long-overdue break from reality. After browsing resorts along an especially picturesque strip in the Bahamas, you narrow it down to two contenders – both of them offer similar style rooms and upscale amenities and boast glowing guest reviews. Even the price points are similar; however, as your mouse hovers over the booking page, you notice that the second option (despite being slightly higher in cost per night) offers an instant, high-value reward upon booking. On the contrary, the first hotel just offers ‘loyalty points’ which, if you’ve learned anything in the past, never amounts to much. Which hotel would you select?

This scenario illustrates the difference between a traditional, points-based loyalty system and a rewards-based, instant gratification model. You may not know it yet, but the latter is poised to become the new standard of loyalty across the hospitality industry. Why? Because, quite simply, it works.

Like any marketing approach, traditional hotel loyalty systems must grow and evolve – or face extinction. Despite this, many hospitality professionals still cling to these legacy programs, frequently wiping away the proverbial cobwebs to argue their place in the modern consumer landscape. Unfortunately, points-based loyalty fails to delight and effectively reward guests, but it often fails to offer any tangible value to a hotel’s bottom line. From notoriously hard-to-redeem point schemes to lackluster reward tiers and expiration dates, traditional loyalty programs have settled into the background long since abandoning any real attempts at moving the needle for hotels or guests alike, especially in the post-pandemic world. The writing is on the wall – legacy loyalty is out, and instant gratification is in.

The Powerful Psychology of Instant Gratification

If you want to understand the power of instant gratification across the consumer landscape, look no further than Amazon. Amazon maintains its position at the top of the consumer food chain not necessarily due to the superiority of products but because it offers customers immediate gratification and unparalleled convenience. Almost anything they could want or need can be delivered directly to their doorstep in 1-2 days or, in some cases, within the same day. In his 2020 comedy special, Ronny Chieng speaks to this ‘phenomenon’ when he jokes that “the airspace above America is just Amazon prime!”.

Of course, the power of immediacy, especially while making a purchase (whether an item or a vacation), is easy to understand from a psychological perspective – it’s tangible and an instant hit of dopamine in a world primarily fueled by the desire for convenience. Lisa Gevelber, VP of Marketing for the Americas at Google, explained this by saying, “Impatience, immediate action, instant gratification, even some impulsiveness — these are just a handful of descriptors for behavior today. We have all been empowered and emboldened by information. With our phones acting as supercomputers in our pockets, we can find, learn, do, and buy whenever the need arises — or the whim strikes.” And it’s not just a need for immediacy. It’s also a need for personalization. To this effect, Salesforce reports that at least 45% of consumers will switch brands if a company doesn’t actively anticipate their needs. Not only that but their Shopper First research surveying 6000+ consumers and 1.4 billion e-commerce visits revealed that consumers increasingly reward brands that give the shopping relationship meaning beyond the transaction. In the world of hospitality, reimagined loyalty programs present the perfect opportunity to tap into a culture of instant gratification and personalization in a way that is meaningful to guests and hotels alike.

All Signs Point to Reward-Based Loyalty

In 2020, Mastercard reported that most US adults (90%) belong to at least one loyalty program, and 53% are in three or more – and yet many brands struggle to find ways to engage customers. In 2019, Mintel reported that, although 90% of US adults belong to at least one loyalty program, more than half of loyalty memberships are inactive. Often, this lack of engagement and satisfaction can be attributed to the simple fact that loyalty programs don’t offer incentives guests actually care about, or, if they do, those incentives are locked behind a tier that will take thousands of points to reach. The worst part? The points might expire before a guest even has a chance to use them.

As such, not only are point-based loyalty systems barely having an impact on the decision-making process of prospective travelers, but in some cases, they are even a source of contention between a guest and a hotel when expectations are not met. As you might imagine, this is hardly a winning formula for earning long-term guest loyalty.

On the contrary, AI-driven, reward-based loyalty offers guests instantaneous gratification at the point of purchase – no points needed. With this in mind, Laasie has created a new loyalty segment; hotels can finally motivate guest loyalty with personalized, instantly selectable rewards that genuinely excite guests while helping hotels increase net revenue and drive engagement. Leveraging a network of over 1,000 rewards partners across shopping, dining, and activities, Laasie empowers hotels to convert guest bookings while building dynamic relationships that inspire on-property spend, loyalty and positive reviews.

Much like Amazon, Laasie delivers exactly what a traveler wants – instantly. In an increasingly uncertain world, instant rewards and recognition are increasingly powerful tools. The world has changed, and guests want instant gratification and recognition with every brand interaction. Why not incentivize and reward guests in a way that actually delights them while driving revenue and long-term loyalty for your hotel?

The good news is you can – and you should. The even better news? It’s easier than you could ever imagine.

Ellis Connolly
Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie