Jon Sholter
Today, in less than 3 minutes, we are going to cover the following: Why you should share your mistakes with your team.
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Admittedly, this article is geared toward the franchised hotel world.
If you've been in a franchised/flagged hotel long enough, you know the big players constantly push reward points. Reward points are promoted everywhere from day-to-day enrollments, offering points as service recovery and using points as sales tools.
Points = Loyalty, they say!
To be clear, they're not wrong. Reward programs are an industry norm, and you won't compete without them. However, you sometimes need to ask yourself, does this guest value points as much as I think they do?
Let's get some checkmarks out of the way.
Should you do everything you can to enroll new members? Yes! Should you do everything you can to get high/potential revenue clients to sign up? Mostly Yes! Should you ensure your Guest Service and Sales Teams fully know the value of points? Absolutely Yes!
But for the non-obsessive point collectors, do points make a significant impact?
Many hotels train Team Members to offer points instead of a discount for guest recovery. This is logical in many instances, but only if you provide it to a guest who values points, like a higher-tier member. Otherwise, will the guest find value in 2000 reward points, which they may never be able to spend?
How about from a sales perspective?
How often have we offered reward points for a referral or as a gift to a current client? The same thought applies here, does the client actually care? Is this the best you can do? Ten thousand points might sound nice, but would they rather receive something else?
So, what to do instead?
Realize points can be an excellent tool for the right guest. Points are not evil.
Realize that, in many cases, you are being cheap. Two thousand points might sound good until the guest realizes you've given them $10.00 of value for a horrible sleep or a $3000.00 referral.
Think in a THIS or THAT format. Would a client rather have 20,000 points worth $100.00 or a personalized gift worth $100.00? Which would make a more significant impact?
Ask your guests what they would prefer. Would your unsatisfied guests like 5000 points, a $25.00 credit to your restaurant or a $25.00 discount? Ask, and they will tell.
So, at the end of the day, points are not evil, they’re just not always the right tool. They say if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So expand your toolbox :)
**Points value vary by brand, examples provided are just for illustration purposes.**
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