More hotels offer discounts to get customers to book directly
Hotel companies are aggressively battling for online booking by offering their most loyal customers discounted rates for reserving directly with them.
On July 20, Choice Hotels International will introduce a members- only discounted rate of up to 7% on ChoiceHotels. com and the company’s mobile app. All 27 million Choice Privileges members are eligible.
Since April, Hyatt Gold Passport members have been able to get up to a 10% discount for booking directly via the company’s website, mobile apps and other approved channels for stays in the USA, Canada and Australia.
That same month, Marriott International introduced Marriott Rewards Member Rates discounted at least 2% on weekdays and at least 5% on weekends for loyalty members who book directly on Marriott. com or the company’s mobile app, call centers or though select corporate travel professionals.
“We launched Member Rates to provide an exclusive benefit to those guests who choose to have a closer relationship with our brands and hotels,” says Drew Pinto, vice president of distribution for Marriott. In addition to the online discounts, members get free Wi- Fi and mobile check- in and check- out.
The efforts are aimed at online travel agencies ( OTAs) that charge commissions to hotels that have listings on their sites. The hotel companies would not elaborate on the terms of their relationships with the OTAs, but said the member rates do not mean they will stop working with such companies as Expedia and Priceline.
“OTAs play an important role in the market, and we continue to have productive relationships with our OTA partners,” says Ellen Lee, senior vice president of digital for Hyatt. “OTAs help us introduce Hyatt brands to new customers and those who are not likely to build a loyal brand relationship.”
Melissa Maher, senior vice president of the Global Partner Group for Expedia, says having hotel chains offer a variety of loyalty rates has made the booking process more cumbersome for consumers.
“It’s really putting the consumer in a position where they have to spend a lot more time looking around and comparing different sites,” she says.
Expedia, she says, lets consumers shop for travel vendors in one place. The company, she says, helps hotels with technology, data, marketing, and customer acquisition. In 2015, Expedia sites — which include Travelocity, Orbitz Worldwide, Hotels. com, and a few others — drew more than 450 million monthly visits in more than 75 countries. It has a supply of more than 269,000 hotels.
Maher also says that because the hotel companies are not letting Expedia offer their best rates, their listings are no longer as visible. The listings are compiled through an algorithm that measures offer strength and quality score.
” Hotels that are giving us the same rate get more visibility on our site,” she says. “We’re not penalizing hotels with loyalty rates. We’re just making sure our consumers are seeing the hotels that have the highest quality score on our site.”
At the same time, Maher says, Expedia is in discussions with the hotel companies to be able to offer customers the member rates as well as perks such as free Wi- Fi. Expedia also has lowered the commissions hotels have to pay.
Still, the hotel giants have waged mar- keting campaigns to convince travelers that they’ll get a better deal by booking directly with them.
In February, Hilton started a “Stop Clicking Around” marketing campaign, the largest launched in the company’s 97- year history.
The company is offering up to 10% discounts to Hilton HHonors members who book directly through their channels. Other perks are earned points, free Wi- Fi, and the ability to check- in, choose your room from a digital floor plan, and use a digital key via the HHonors mobile app.
Last year, 57 billion HHonors Points went unearned because guests booked their stay through a third party, said Mark Weinstein, global head of customer engagement, loyalty and partnerships at Hilton.
“There is a huge misconception that third parties always offer lower prices for our hotel rooms, which is simply not true,” he said.
Flavie Lemarchand- Wood, vice president of communications for Priceline. com, takes issue with that, noting that Priceline “offers promotional savings that are often greater than on individual brand sites.”
Booking. com, meanwhile, says it has its own loyalty program that benefits customers. Select loyal customers who have booked with them five times can earn an additional 10% off some room rates at certain properties. They also get perks such as late check- out, early check- in, free welcome cocktails, airport shuttles and more.
Since launching its discounts, Hilton has seen a significant increase in direct bookings. Also, the company has seen a surge in HHonors member enrollment, levels of Web activity and mobile app downloads. Of the guests who have booked the HHonors discount since its launch, nearly a quarter were new to the program and signed up after seeing the campaign.
The company has more than 54 million HHonors members.