Skift Take
We're surprised no other hotel loyalty programs have yet attempted to do what Hilton is doing here. These updates, for the most part, reflect an acknowledgement on Hilton's part that no two hotel guests are the same, and that loyalty programs designed solely for road warriors aren't enough to compete in today's increasingly competitive loyalty landscape. Side note: We're so happy they decided to drop that extra (and very unnecessary) "h" in Hilton Honors, too. Oh, and it's just Hilton now, not Hilton Worldwide.
If last year's big hospitality buzzword was "lifestyle," this year's could very well be another word that starts with the letter L: "loyalty."
At Hilton, loyalty could not be more crucial, especially this year. A year after launching the biggest marketing campaign in the company's history, "Stop Clicking Around," which promoted discounted Hilton Honors members-only rates for direct bookings, Hilton is debuting loyalty program updates designed to make its program even more appealing to travelers, whether they're road warriors or leisure travelers.
Today, the company announced four major program updates to Hilton Honors, formerly known as Hilton HHonors. Each of the new features, said Mark Weinstein, Hilton's senior vice president and global head of loyalty and partnerships, was designed to satisfy the needs of both "frequent travelers who want more ways to use their points" as well as "less frequent travelers who want to engage more with fewer points."
A quick glance at the new features — including the ability to book travel using a combination of points and money, the opportunity to use points to purchase merchandise, and the ability to pool points — implies that Hilton took inspiration for these new program updates from the airlines. Weinstein, however, said that was not the case here.
"No, we took our inspiration from what our guests told us they wanted most out of their loyalty program," he said. "Frequent travelers told us they want more flexibility with their points, and less frequent travelers have said they want more ways to use their points, and use them faster." He also noted that Hilton has been researching these new features for the past two years.
"Now, more than ever, loyalty is at the core of our customer strategy," Weinstein said. "We're removing the friction out of travel and making it more fun and joyful along the way."
Hilton is also dropping the additional "h" in Hilton HHonors. "Hopefully, this will minimize mispronunciation of Hilton Honors," Weinstein said. "The extra 'h' stood for Hilton, and was an unnecessary marketing element of the program." Additionally, the company itself will now be know
