True loyalty is not about points; it is about recognition
“The era of easy growth is over. Performance now depends on a hotel’s ability to actively shape demand rather than passively receiving it.”
For decades, the hotel industry has measured guest value solely based on room stays. If a guest didn’t check in, they didn’t count- never mind if that guest dined at the hotel’s restaurant, never mind if it was the fourth visit in as many weeks. All that matters is whether he or she stayed in the hotel’s guest room - because loyalty, to nearly every hotel, ends when a guest leaves their room. Does it?
It doesn’t. Loyalty, by and large, should cover every interaction guests have with the hotel, across various touchpoints, from casual visits to the bar, restaurants and spas to planned events such as meetings, presentations and banquets. That every one of these moments, where guests use auxiliary services instead of hotel rooms, contributes to building a relationship (and increased revenue), appears to be lost to several hoteliers.
I am a frequent restaurant visitor to this particular international hotel and I am always treated as a first-time guest simply because I’ve never booked a room. Now, I can well understand this, if I was patronising a hotel that used an old legacy system - but this certainly is not the case, in this particularly International hotel brand, where I am sure uses a top-of-the- line Property Management System (PMS). Despite this, I suspect, this hotel like many in its tribe, prefers to overlook high-value guests who engage beyond overnight stays. In short, these hotels believe in forging guest relationships with only those who occupy their rooms. Hence, the PMS contains only room-stay data.
Hotels are missing one in five guests and it's costing them more than they think
Part of this inherent problem is when departments often operate in isolation, optimizing for their own key performance metrics rather than overall guest value. Revenue generated by restaurants, spas, or events may be evaluated separately from room revenue, leading to missed opportunities for cross-functional strategies. For example, a guest who frequently dines at the hotel could be a strong candidate for targeted stay offers, while a repeat spa visitor could be encouraged to explore other services. Without shared data, these connections are difficult to identify and even harder to act upon, limiting the hotel’s ability to maximize the full potential of each guest relationship.
With today’s technology, hotels can overcome one of hospitality’s biggest challenges – getting dozens of systems to actually talk to each other: resulting in getting to know more about their guests than ever before. But that doesn’t often occur because most of that information is trapped in disconnected systems. This limitation is most visible in traditional loyalty programs, which still focus on rewarding overnight stays. Points accumulate based on room revenue, leaving out guests who spend thousands annually in dining, wellness, or events. Yet these are often the hotel’s most loyal patrons, engaging repeatedly with the brand across multiple touchpoints and contributing significantly to overall revenue.
True loyalty is not therefore about points; it is about recognition.
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Mystery Guest Auditor, Motivational Speaker, Ex-Hotelier.
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