The travel and hospitality industries were impacted in many ways during COVID. Some brands were more impacted than others, with impacts driven by various forces.
Most hotels have several internal and external stakeholders, and those stakeholders have varying degrees of engagement with, and understanding of, the brands customer loyalty efforts. For hotels, COVID presented challenges where certain groups (frequent travelers, for example) changed their behaviors. In contrast, new travelers, such as first-responders, may be “unknown” and not a part of or active in the brand’s loyalty program.
The opportunity for Best Western is to understand the changing market dynamics - how external stakeholders engage with the program, diagnose any misalignment within the program, create simplicity for the owners/operators, and ensure all customers understand the program's value.
During this session, Best Western’s Jay Hubbs, Vice President of Advertising, Marketing, Innovation and Analytics will discuss:
- Market dynamics that impacted the travel and hospitality verticals and Best Western, specifically, during COVID
- Understanding the incentive of the program for respective stakeholders, while understanding challenges and addressing issues in a proactive manner
- Understanding the uniqueness of the BWR program versus others in the market
- The impacts of new metrics within the industry and at Best Western – how the brand has focused on education around these new set of metrics that help substantiate the opportunities for the program
- Designing effective solutions (technology, program benefits/awareness, partnerships) and using training increase stakeholder buy-in to set the program up for success going forward