Booking Bonanza: Destination Hotels' New Loyalty Program Rakes in more than 1,360 Room Nights
Destination Hotels & Resorts (Destination) is the seventh largest independent hotel management company with over 33 luxury and upscale resorts and hotels across the nation, that operate as independent properties. In need of a targeted strategy to cross-sell and up-sell properties within the Destination collection, the company turned to AIR Marketing to assist in launching a new customer loyalty program. The loyalty program, Destination Delivers, was designed to collect consumer preferences upon registering for the program to create highly-personalized marketing campaigns individualized to each customer based on the data they provided.
At the property level, Destination experienced great success over the last two years with AIR
Marketing's data analytics program, Cyclone, an analytics and marketing automation tool that provides real-time, in-depth analysis of customer information. Seeing proven and measureable results from this approach at the property level, the company wanted to take this success and methodology to maximize marketing efforts across its entire portfolio at the brand level. Using AIR Marketing's newest data-based web application, TouchPoints, the company launched Destination Delivers this spring as the brand's first loyalty program, using the first data-based Web application of its kind in the hospitality industry to market directly to consumers based on their selected preferences.
The proprietary platform
At the property level, Destination experienced great success over the last two years with AIR
Marketing's data analytics program, Cyclone, an analytics and marketing automation tool that provides real-time, in-depth analysis of customer information. Seeing proven and measureable results from this approach at the property level, the company wanted to take this success and methodology to maximize marketing efforts across its entire portfolio at the brand level. Using AIR Marketing's newest data-based web application, TouchPoints, the company launched Destination Delivers this spring as the brand's first loyalty program, using the first data-based Web application of its kind in the hospitality industry to market directly to consumers based on their selected preferences.The proprietary platform
The installation of TouchPoints into the Destination Delivers campaign included the development and implementation of a proprietary platform to: (1) provide personalized communications specific to expressed and predictive characteristics of members, (2) unify the customer experience, and (3) cross-sell and up-sell the Destination collection. Via an opt-in Web site provided to the entire Destination customer database, www.destinationdelivers.com, customers are invited to select their travel and recreation preferences, from spending family time on the beach to enjoying golf, fine wine and spas. Based on the information provided, each registered Destination Delivers member receives unique Web experiences when visiting their personalized web sites to book travel and in e-mail messages with content, deals and specials based entirely on the individual's indicated preferences.
Destination Delivers launched in April, reaching 400,000 of Destination's customer base. Just 30 days after the start of the campaign, the company reported over 3,000 members and an increase in room nights and revenue directly linked to the program. Destination Delivers has since garnered a membership of over 6,500 Destination guests who, in turn, have contributed to booking over 1,360 room nights since the program launched.
Seeing the immediate success in using this data-based approach to send more strategic and targeted messages to customers emphasized that Destination's loyal guests want information that pertains to their interests and will book offers that meet their preferences. Being able to market to customers one-on-one is crucial and using TouchPoints in Destination Delivers was a critical tool in making that happen.
Nancy Kern, assistant vice president of marketing is responsible for the development and execution of marketing strategies on behalf of the Destination Collection and within Destination individual properties. She works closely with AIR Marketing on ongoing use of Cyclone and Destination Delivers.
Destination Delivers launched in April, reaching 400,000 of Destination's customer base. Just 30 days after the start of the campaign, the company reported over 3,000 members and an increase in room nights and revenue directly linked to the program. Destination Delivers has since garnered a membership of over 6,500 Destination guests who, in turn, have contributed to booking over 1,360 room nights since the program launched.
Seeing the immediate success in using this data-based approach to send more strategic and targeted messages to customers emphasized that Destination's loyal guests want information that pertains to their interests and will book offers that meet their preferences. Being able to market to customers one-on-one is crucial and using TouchPoints in Destination Delivers was a critical tool in making that happen.
Nancy Kern, assistant vice president of marketing is responsible for the development and execution of marketing strategies on behalf of the Destination Collection and within Destination individual properties. She works closely with AIR Marketing on ongoing use of Cyclone and Destination Delivers.