Carlson Hotels Finds Niche with Global Loyalty Program
Carlson Hotels Worldwide is seeing improved membership in its loyalty program after consolidating its two programs into one global program.
Membership in the chain’s GoldPoints Plus program has grown 15% since Carlson relaunched the program using one system to enhance reward-earning options for guests and reduce operating costs.
“We are above target,” Fredrik Korallus, executive vice president of revenue generation for Carlson Hotels Worldwide, said. “Customer satisfaction scores have peaked.”
Previously, Carlson Hotels Worldwide operated one program in North and South Americas and a second in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Each program had different point structures and redemption options, with the U.S. version having a low value proposition, the company said. GoldPoints Plus is now offered in 71 countries covering 965 locations.
Under the new structure, members can earn 50% to 100% more points per hotel stay: 20 points per dollar or Euro spent on stays at Regent Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts and Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts and 15 points per dollar or Euro for stays at Country Inn & Suites By Carlsonor Park InnHotels. The program also offers the chance to earn airline miles via 23 airline partners.
Members can also donate to the World Childhood Foundation, a group that focuses on the prevention of child exploitation and trafficking, or transfer points to Carbon Neutral, a program that helps offset emissions associated with travel.
Program details are available at http://www.goldpointsplus.com.
“We had to have a unified voice to our consumers,” Korallus said. “We needed to keep it simple for people to stay engaged. Now, we are able to communicate much more broadly with consumers with one model.”
One of the challenges in developing the program was creating a reward structure that would benefit all members, Luc Bondar, global vice president of loyalty for Carlson Marketing Worldwide, the agency that runs the program, said. The firm worked with Carlson Hotels to make sure “the customer was king” and the value of belonging to the program was worth the effort, he said.
“We made sure we gave guests a voice,” Bondar said “At the end of the day, this is a program about rewarding them.”
More than 3 million members belong to the GoldPoints Plus program. Carlson Marketing Worldwide used e-mail marketing campaigns, PR and print ads to promote the new program.
What’s next? Carlson Hotels Worldwide plans to offer additional incentives to draw new members. In February, the chain plans to launch a scratch and win promotion for its U.S. properties. People who visit a Carlson Hotel receive a game card and enter a code for a chance to win 100,000 GoldPoints. The promotion is expected to run for two months, Korallus said.
The hotel operator, once part of Carlson Marketing Worldwide’s overall GoldPoints Reward Network, broke away from the network (but kept the name) last October to update its existing loyalty program to focus more on hotel and travel rewards. Carlson Marketing Worldwide said this month it is phasing out the Gold Points program to focus on the individual program for the hotel chain. It also plans to launch a program for its other main client, T.G.I Friday’s
(Promo P&I, Jan. 9, 2008).
