Partner Spotlight | Inspire Loyalty
11th March 2020
What are the main benefits for hoteliers adopting your system?
Hotels pay 15-25% commission on bookings via OTA’s. An obligation to offer rate parity with minimal cancellation terms and no means to collect guest information in advance of stay. Who’s the winner?
Inspire Loyalty equip hotels with the tools and structure to incentivise guests to book direct and provide valuable contact information, so they can be rewarded and recognised. Using an integrated approach, hotels can now deliver true hospitality and loyalty from one system and nurture their guests as individuals to recognise their value to the business, saving high commission payments through increased direct business.
When a guest becomes a member of the hotel’s branded loyalty programme they access exclusive member rate, earn points on accumulated spend and redeem points for a future experience. And there's an opportunity to cross-sell if it’s a hotel group or extend the reach through the introduction of Vantage - a new B2C multi-site platform representing all Inspire Loyalty hotels.
While the OTA continues to acquire new customers, hotels increase direct and repeat business. Retention levels grow by reward and recognition.
What makes you stand out from the crowd?
Hotel propositions are often generic meaning one size fits all. Today, we have the tools, integrations and structure to present a more personal approach. Using the loyalty database, hotels can define Recency Frequency and Monetary values from transactional information provided and target members with personalised communications, including anniversary notifications.
As the leading bespoke loyalty provider in the UK, Inspire Loyalty create a branded loyalty programme for hotels which includes loyalty website, interface, a branded app powered by Criton, and optional loyalty cards. Guests are encouraged to repeat business and access exclusive member offers when booking direct. Using a points-based system, members are engaged by monthly email marketing communications with exclusive member offers.
The hotelier can access a dashboard of customer segments and buying behaviours and receive all member and staff support managed by a dedicated team. The branded app by Criton contains many features including access to the member’s digital loyalty card to view their transaction history, points balance and redeem rewards.
Tell us three achievements you are proud of?
Success! Since inception in 2010 we’ve managed to retain a solid client base for hotels to reward and recognise their guests using a branded loyalty programme and received great feedback that it works, both client-side and by members. Reducing OTA commission while providing incentives for guests to book direct through reward and recognition has become the main driver behind having us on board.
Integration with Criton is a natural fit and provides all hotel information, booking function and door key access in the hotel’s own branded app, with direct access to their loyalty account and member rate. No other loyalty programme provider in the UK can match this uniquely branded, customisable and innovative product.
We worked in hospitality so representing our client’s service to an optimum level is always a priority. Since we manage all staff and member enquiries we’ve had great feedback on our service and overall business ethic to offer flexibility and efficiency. Inspire Loyalty were a finalist for CIS Excellence Awards for Business Innovation but as a company, we need to shout louder and submit for more award entries!
What are your clients saying about you?
“Loyalty members have generated £1m sales from 2000 active members, saving high % commission levels paid to Online Travel Agents due to an increase in direct bookings. Our repeat business has increased to 20%”.
Niall Thompson, General Manager, Fonab Castle Hotel & Spa
“We’ve retained our relationship with Inspire Loyalty for 7 years through multiple ownership because of the evident returns their loyalty programme produces, both financially and through relationship building with our members. In earlier years a return of £1,326 per member was generated at an average cost of only £4 per member. £1.5m was generated by members between 2017 & 2019.
Now under the ownership of IHG, we successfully run the Inspire Loyalty programme to increase local business though increased spend in food & beverage. Their innovative programme, Friends Of Blythswood, is easy to understand and operate by our staff and members and efficiently managed by Inspire Loyalty’s services team.
Kelly Searle, Marketing & Communication Manager, Kimpton Blythswood Square
Any future plans you are happy to share with us?
Hotels understandably want information to collaborate across different systems in a user-friendly environment. We’re now on our 4th generation platform with open API and integrations available, so we’re developing our partnerships this year to ensure points processing is an automated task for all our clients and ensure everything required to engage guests by different suppliers is under one roof.
We’ll be launching Vantage this quarter to support our loyal clients. Our first B2C website will encourage guests to register and earn points at their preferred local hotel programme we represent but redeem points for a Vantage voucher which can be used across participating hotels in our portfolio. It means we’ll be generating awareness of our client’s hotels, introducing new guests and loyalty, while giving the member a choice of hotels to enjoy their reward and experience.
Closing remark?
Global hotel chains negotiate better terms and commission levels with OTA’s, while investing in technology to change guest’s habit to book direct. Independent Hotels have less resource, less budget and less room to negotiate. While main distribution is driven via the OTA, Independent Hotels can now decrease their reliance on this expensive channel by influencing guests to book direct through reward and recognition.