I would like to present a business concept which I
have had the opportunity to implement as a “Loyalty Program” between two groups
of hotels on the famous Greek Islands; Mykonos and Santorini.
Two hoteliers from these well-known Greek destinations have
joined together to create their own unique loyalty program. With their cooperative action, each group
from the hotels on these islands now offers a discount to the guests of the
other group.
As of March 2012, resorts of Mykonos with
Caldera Collection, have put into effect a loyalty program that rewards guests of the other group with a 10% discount
through their website.
Whilst it is true that sometimes simple solutions have the
most tangible results, the hardest part is not finding that solution, but being
able to collaborate with a person who is compatible. This is what has been
achieved through this beneficial program.
The Inspiration
Studying the bookings of Santorini and Mykonos, we found
that a large percentage of travelers used to visit both islands during their
trip. The North Americans, in particular made up much higher % of these findings. Also,
requests by guests on Santorini for recommended hotels on Mykonos and vice
versa were very common, bringing us to the conclusion that a “loyalty program”
would be an excellent opportunity for the hotels to work together in a combined
effort to satisfy the needs of their guests. This program would increase sales
in both groups and on the other hand, would encourage guests to book from their
website and not from any OTA site (booking Expedia) which would result in a
commission loss for the hotelier.
The Collaboration
Collaboration is a skill that makes something which cannot
be accomplished alone, quite possible. Thus, establishing a climate and
environment where businessmen from similar or competitive fields can successfully work together is very
important.
I have been extremely lucky on that part because both Mr.
George Kassavetis who is the managing director of the resorts on Mykonos, as
well as Mr. Andreas Patiniotis who is the Managing Director of the Caldera
Collection were very open-minded and understood immediately the benefits of the
loyalty program. They listened carefully
to the idea and were enthusiastic to implement it right there and then.
The Technology
The project also had a technological advantage because both
groups used the same booking engine (Webhotelier.) During the implementation,
we had the full support of Webhotelier who produced a dynamic voucher for the
hotels, using the already implemented technology they use for loyalty programs
of group hotels. They also programmed the multi- property finder which you can
see working for all nine hotels of both groups.
We produced the necessary marketing material as well as
texts and description on internal pages of the hotels, describing the program
and how a guest can redeem the voucher on the other island. You can see an
example here or here
How it Works
A hotel from any of both groups rewards a 10% discount for a
booking to the other group of hotels. Once a guest makes a reservation at
one of the hotels of these two groups, the confirmation email
includes a voucher coupon code for the hotels of the other destination,
independent of which destination the guest selects first. (Customers of Destination
A get a discount on destination B and vice versa.)
The whole process has
been made simple so the only thing that a guest has to do is to select which
destination they want to travel to first and then book. Then, they select which
hotel they like from the group of hotels at destination B and include the voucher
they received in the confirmation email of the hotel at destination A.
If the guest does not want to travel to destination B, then
he can share this voucher code with a third person, relative or friend.
With this unique loyalty program, guests can only benefit.
Both hotels increase their sales by providing a tempting offer and encourage
guests to book through their website. They also receive guests from each other
who won’t book through any OTA site. The guest receives a discount on their
vacation and in some cases a third person or a friend of the guest is awarded
the right to use the discount too.
The Results
From the day the program was adopted, we immediately saw
there was a higher success with bookings at the expensive resorts, (mostly five
stars.) This was expected since there is the higher benefit from the % of the
discount.
Moreover, our studies showed that guests interacted with the
program by booking first the less expensive hotel at destination A so as to
have a higher discount on the expensive hotel at destination B. This is
acceptable to businessmen and it doesn’t break the business model which is
based on extra sales.
Next Steps
We have established a website www.mykonosantorini.com where more
businesses can have access and participate to our loyalty program and offer the standard
10% discount when the guest visits a restaurant, goes on a wine tasting tour at
a local vineyard or books a boat excursion for a day.
The goal is to get more and more local businesses on both
islands involved with the program so that guests see the benefit of the loyalty program which offers benefits to everyone. Due to the recent increasing demand from
travelers, travel agents on the islands will be able to have access to the
program offering the full packet discount to guests. Moreover, hoteliers from nearby islands who
have requested to join the program will encourage travelers to visit other
destinations too. As the concept takes off, it will be possible to link more
hotels to build a chain to a number of other destinations such as,
Athens-Santorini-Mykonos etc.
Such ideas could work also between other famous double
destinations such as “Rome - Florence”, “Miami –
Bahamas” “Valencia – Ibiza” and more…
