How does Sol Meliá assesses the effectiveness of its loyalty programme?

CRM Special: By EFT Correspondent in San Francisco

Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts assesses the effectiveness of its loyalty programme with room night production and revenue obtained, according to Adriana Toledo, director - loyalty programmes, Americas Division, Sol Melia Hotels and Resorts.

“We also assess our effectiveness by the activity of our members in terms of obtaining and redeeming points,” she recently told EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta in an interview.

Excerpts from the interview:

An expert told me marketing is becoming more quantitative and more consumer-centric but there is a long, long way to go in the travel industry. What’s your viewpoint on this?

Marketing is becoming much more quantitative and consumer-centric. I believe the key to success is to be 100 percent consumer-centric and to use quantitative measures to gauge the success of specific actions geared towards the consumer. It should be all about the customer and his needs. Knowing the customer, gathering information and using the information to exceed guest’s needs.

How do you assess the effectiveness of your loyalty programme from Sol Melia Hotels and Resorts’ perspective?

Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts assesses effectiveness with room night production and revenue obtained. We also assess our effectiveness by the activity of our members in terms of obtaining and redeeming points.

What major steps have you taken in the recent past as far as CRM is concerned? How did they help you in understanding your customers in a better manner?

We have hired a third party to help us understand and know our customers in a better manner. We are in the first steps of this process where we are gathering all necessary information to understand and know our customers trends, likes and dislikes.  We hope to be able to use this information in developing new strategies that will directly appeal to the target market we are trying to reach.

The principal benefit of a loyalty program to the company offering it is the customer data generated. How do you ensure this? How can you obtain the greatest amount of CRM data from your online customers?

For our online customers we send emails asking our customers to fill in their preferences and information. We provide incentives to our customers with points or discounts for a better return. We’ve discovered that the best way to know our customers is at the point of sale. Employees, at all front-of-house positions, in the hotels are encouraged through incentives to gather as much information as possible from the guests.

Do you think that hotel loyalty programmes can be optimised with the help of new technologies and as a result increase customer loyalty?

I strongly believe that customer loyalty can be optimized with new technologies. It is the base for a successful loyalty program.  The use of Internet technologies provide new opportunities in the transfer of information between the guest and the company that did not exist a few years ago.  Information can be distributed at a faster pace and with a greater degree of efficiency. New technologies will assist gathering all the appropriate information to exceed our customer needs. With appropriate technology we can know basic details about our customer. Do they prefer Coke or Diet Coke, do they prefer ocean view or garden view. The objective is to know our guests’ needs so as to be able to exceed all expectations.

Nearly every airline and hotel has a point reward system. The system itself is no longer a differentiator. How do you address such concerns?

It is not an easy process since rewards programs have been point based for many years but we are striving to differentiate with customer service and exceeding guest expectations. Getting to know our customers before arrival and during their stay to exceed expectations is our main objective at the moment.  In addition to the point reward system there is a real push to establish a relationship with the guest.  This is happening at every level, from the moment of first contact, during the guest stay and even after the guest has returned from their trip.

How can you reduce the cost of implementing and operating a loyalty scheme? Is a tiered loyalty system really an effective way of increasingly loyalty?

A tiered loyalty programme is very important to be able to recognise and differentiate those who are real loyal customers to those who are interested only in the perks and points. It is also a great way to segment your loyalty programme by areas and regions meeting their different needs and expectations. It will be easier and more cost efficient when marketing to different segments or demographic markets knowing their expectations and needs. It will also help the loyalty program be more personalized when communicating to the different markets.


Customer loyalty must revert back to the brand experience and the intrinsic desire we have to be loyal to a brand we like. What’s your viewpoint on this?

I believe loyalty is done at the hotel, the brand. It is important to keep a standardised brand image, service and product throughout brand. We in Sol Meliá have 6 different brands. For example, Paradisus where we have standardized our service, product and image. Where the customer will get the same service, the same benefits in Cancun or in Costa Rica. We are striving to communicate within the brand the customer needs to be able to create Loyalty in our brand. If we strive to exceed guest expectations throughout the whole brand we will create the desire to be loyal only to this brand.

What trends do you foresee as far as loyalty programmes are concerned?

I believe loyalty programmes will start being more personalised. It is all about the customer their needs, their likes and their expectations. Key is to exceed guest expectations. We are starting to work in the personalisation with our marketing and our service at the hotels. I also believe that it is very important to target specific markets. Each market has different needs and trends and we should be seeing and meeting this needs.

Technology is the base for success in a loyalty programme it is changing really fast and changing many of our trends.