Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, September 5, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
20.08.2024 - 19:19 / skift.com / Sean Oneill
Marriott and Sonder are teaming up in a 20-year licensing deal that lets members of Marriott’s loyalty program earn points at Sonder’s roughly 200 properties—about half of which are apartments. The deal is the latest in a string of similar licensing tie-ups led by Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Hyatt.
In the past year, loyalty licensing tie-ups have included Marriott with MGM Resorts, Hilton with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, IHG with Iberostar, and Hyatt with Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
“Each partnership will be crafted to support different objectives, whether it’s member acquisition, member retention, trying to capture more share of wallet, or get a higher number of members spending within your network,” said Chris Holdren, a former hospitality executive.
Here are 10 things to know about the trend.
IHG was one of the early pioneers of a loyalty licensing partnership.
In 2010, IHG signed a license agreement with Las Vegas Sands to affiliate The Venetian and The Palazzo at the Venetian with its loyalty program. Today, the properties are branded “IHG Alliance Resorts” on IHG’s site and app.
That same year, Marriott added The Cosmopolitan to its Autograph Collection of hotels, making it available for booking and rewards participation through its system.
In 2013, Starwood teamed up with Ceasars Entertainment to let customers earn points for stays across their networks. The deal ended soon after Marriott’s offer to buy Starwood closed in 2016. In 2017, Wyndham became Caesars‘ new loyalty partner.
In 2023, Marriott did a loyalty tie-up with MGM Resorts.
A common driver of these deals is that the major hotel groups have been mostly locked out of the Las Vegas market by a few local players, but their customers like to visit Las Vegas. Loyalty partnerships allow hotel groups to give guests access and allow gaming resorts to enjoy the hotel groups’ cost advantages in marketing and distribution.
In March, Hyatt began allowing members of its loyalty program to earn and redeem points at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Vegas.
Geographic coverage can also drive non-gaming tie-ups. Sonder runs many properties in residential neighborhoods where it’s hard to open new hotels, so Marriott has extended its reach through a tie-up.
Similarly, Small Luxury Hotels of the World also has luxurious properties in tiny towns, villages, and remote resort areas where new hotel creation is difficult. So Hilton’s deal with that collection of hotels extends the group’s reach.
Why are hotels pursuing deals that are soft and temporary tie-ins rather than acquisitions?
“Because traditional hotel signings are at a low point, and because existing hotel brands are priced high, the traditional metric of room count growth has become a
Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, September 5, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
On August 16, Marriott International opened its 9,000th property, with the debut of The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort in Florida. Meanwhile, Hilton Worldwide said Friday it had opened its 8,000th property.
Thousands of hotel workers went on strike across major U.S. cities between Sunday and Tuesday. The 21 strikes, organized by the Unite Here union, targeted properties branded by the major hotel groups Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Accor.
Sep 3, 2024 • 7 min read
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