Hotel Loyalty Growth Over the Last 7 Years: Hyatt is Cookin'
The other day, I stumbled upon a post in the Hyatt subreddit titled "Hyatt is by far the fastest growing loyalty programme since 2018." The post included an accompanying screenshot of a chart depicting the number of hotel chains, their number of loyalty members, and the growth in that number since 2018.
As the headline felt so absolute, I clicked through to find a source for the data, which comes from this Skift piece. Now, I should add that the Skift article acknowledges that there's 'missing information' in the analysis, namely that none of the programs' distinguished between "active" members and anyone who has opened an account in their lifetime.' So, reading this data to measure each chain's frequent, recurring traveler base accurately isn't whole. That said, there is some intrigue to 'raw numbers', making it worthy of a short discussion. Let's jump into it!
Hotel Loyalty Growth 2018 - 2024
The real story here is Hyatt. Over the last seven years, Hyatt has seen a whopping 238% increase in its membership base. This compares favorably (on a percentage basis) to the three other, much larger, members of the 'core four' hotel chains. Marriott Bonvoy's membership increased by 82%, Hilton's by 147%, and IHG's by 52%. The fact that Hyatt's base has more than tripled this time is impressive. The natural question is what's driving such growth? If you ask me, I'd point to Hyatt's multi-layered strategy focused on winning the lifestyle-luxury traveler (Hyatt has doubled its luxury room footprint since 2017); gobbling up every promising lifestyle and all-inclusive brand in sight; and successfully building an ecosystem that offers something to even the most infrequent of travelers.
While these numbers are impressive - what will Hyatt do next to increase its competition with its cohort members? Promising growth numbers like this, alongside continued strong financial performance will undoubtedly create a cash-friendly environment for the chain. Whether it's through its balance sheet or being able to borrow the next dollar on the cheap, I wouldn't be surprised if we see even more growth by acquisition from Hyatt. (I'm prepping a fun piece on a similar topic, so stay tuned)!
Are We Considering the Right Numbers?
Another way to look at loyalty growth is to examine the number of members per hotel or room. Analyzing the membership base as compared to the hotel's footprint in a way controls for chain size - in theory, providing a benchmark from which to gauge the relative stickiness of your brand. For example, a manager of a hotel's loyalty program might ask - 'do the members per room ratio grow, stay the same, or decrease in a period of purposeful growth and acquisition aimed at increasing your footprint?'. When you look at the members-per-room ratio, the core four chains are much closer - Hyatt (155) is second behind Hilton (166). IHG (147) follows at third and Marriott (133) is last.
Conclusion
From time to time, it's interesting to see how the data matches up with the differing opinions you hear out there, particularly in the points and miles community. Much of the chunder around Hyatt in the last few years hasn't just been talk - the hotel chain has seen a massive increase in its membership base over the previous seven years. It'll be interesting to see how global travel trends, the economy, and the strategies of each respective chain shake things up over the next seven years.