Loyalty Luxury-thoughts on Luxury Institute survey

view of lighted sign atop Huntington Hotel and Nob Hill Spa

San Francisco, California

member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World

(picture taken from corner room, Westin St. Francis)

The Luxury Institute reported “High Net Worth Consumers Rank Small Luxury Hotels of the World as top luxury hotel group, followed by Ritz-Carlton, and Four Seasons.”

There are about 440 hotel members of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World worldwide. Two hotel members of this association in Monterey County, California are L’Auberge Carmel and Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur.

The Club is the loyalty program for Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and fortunately abbreviated to the simple acronym SLH for website users.
http://www.slh.com/Club

On my Frequent Guest website I list the brands in the major hotel chains and break them up by market segment of luxury, upscale, and moderate. Aside from my placing the W Hotels and Le Meridien brands in upscale, rather than luxury segment, my market segmentation of hotel brands coincides with the Luxury Institute survey.

The 15 hotel brands used for the Luxury Institute survey are to be expected. The survey appears to have a USA-based bias for hotel brands as several luxury hotels are not considered such as Oberoi or Starwood’s The Luxury Collection.

The big five hotel chains: Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental Hotels group (IHG), Marriott and Starwood brands are all represented and comprise 8 of 15 luxury brands surveyed:

Hilton – Waldorf Astoria Collection
Hyatt – Park Hyatt
InterContinental Hotels Group – InterContinental Hotels
Marriott – JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton
Starwood – St. Regis, W Hotels, Le Meridien

The following are the 15 Hotel brands that were rated (in alphabetical order) for the Luxury Institute survey and I have added loyalty program notes beside the hotel brand names:

1. Fairmont (President’s Club)

2. Four Seasons

3. InterContinental (IHG Hotels Priority Club and also InterContinental Ambassador, a brand specific loyalty program)

4. JW Marriott (Marriott Rewards)

5. Le Meridien (Starwood Preferred Guest)

6. Leading Hotels of the World ( Leaders Club, independent association loyalty program)

7. Loews Hotels (Loews First, brand loyalty program)

8. Mandarin Oriental (no brand loyalty program)

9. Park Hyatt (Hyatt Gold Passport)

10. Ritz-Carlton (Marriott Rewards points for redemption only)

11. Small Luxury Hotels of the World (The Club, independent association loyalty program)

12. Sofitel (part of European-based Accor corporate family and loyalty program. Sofitel has brand specific loyalty program – Sofitel Privilege)

13. St. Regis (Starwood Preferred Guest)

14. W Hotels (Starwood Preferred Guest)

15. Waldorf Astoria Collection (Hilton HHonors)

Accor is European-based, and a major global, hotel corporation and comprises Motel 6, Ibis Hotels, Novotel, Mercure, Sofitel, and other brands. The Sofitel hotel brand is primarily upscale hotels, however, only 10 of the 200 Sofitel Hotels are located in North America. Sofitel operates the Sofitel Privilege frequent guest program. Benefits are based on spending and 2,500 Euros in spending provides enoough points for a 200 Euro gift certificate. Elite members with more than 14 nights in Sofitel hotels earn Gold status and complimentary upgrades.