RWV year in review: The biggest changes to hotel rewards programs in 2015
It's not just the frequent flier world that had a bit of a shakeup this year. Hotel companies and their corresponding loyalty programs delivered some big changes in 2015. Here are some of the defining moments that caught road warriors off guard.
Marriott pounced on Starwood. There's no question that Marriott's surprise announcement to acquire Starwood was one of the biggest stories in the travel industry this year. The merger will make Marriott the largest hotel business in the world, and it's got many loyal Starwood Preferred Guest members worries about what will happen to their loyalty points when Marriott gets involved. Few details have been revealed, but CEO Arne Sorenson promises that Marriott Rewards will remain a strong program for members, which does little to calm the concerns of those with a big bank of SPG points.
Accor acquires Raffles. Accor jumped on the chance to acquire Raffles, which also includes Fairmont and Swissotel brands. This addition to will help Accor loyalty members add more options to redeem points for free nights. So far, as with Marriott and Starwood, details are slim about what the combined loyalty program would look like.
Hotels try to steal each other's business. Right after Marriott announced it was joining forces with Starwood, the claws came out. Hyatt began providing status matches, offering elite members of other loyalty programs equivalent status in Hyatt Gold Passport. Hilton followed suit with a status-matching offer that is still ongoing. Hotels are not new to status matching, but this year hotel companies seem particularly aggressive.
Hotel programs adjust redemption charts. Airlines aren't the only ones to constantly make it harder to redeem points; hotels can devalue their points currency too, and this year they did plenty of it. But while increasing the price to redeem free nights at certain properties, brands have also balanced the scales by making other properties cheaper. Club Carlson adjusted the cost of points needed at many of its hotels including Radisson Blu locations in Chicago, Copenhagen, Madrid, and Sydney. Starwood, IHG, Hilton, and Marriott made similar changes to their loyalty program redemption charts, which led many guests on a rapid redemption push to cash in points for hotels before they became more expensive points-wise. Some Hilton Hotels — for example, the Doubletree properties in Tulsa and Dublin — will go up from a Category 4 to 5 property in January, which requires more points. Fewer hotels (like the Doubletree London Islington switching from Category 8 to 7) will become cheaper.
IHG changes elite qualification and adds top-level tier. IHG adjusted the elite level requirements for its loyalty program. To achieve Gold status (the lowest level), guests need to stay 10 nights or earn 10,000 points. At the opposite end of the scale, IHG introduced Spire Elite, its ultra elite frequent guest membership. The brand also announced that points in a member's account would expire after a year of inactivity.