Choice Drops Elite Status to 5 Nights: What Owners Gain

Glenn: [00:00:00] Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality friend Glenn here in Las Vegas and attending Choice Hotels International 70th Annual Convention. I couldn’t let this exciting moment pass by without speaking to Noha Abdalla, Chief Marketing Officer. It’s one of the things that bothers me is there’s so much. Same, same same in marketing, but not with these folks. So she’s going to be giving me the Keegan-Michael Key to success for marketing. Yeah that’s right. Thank you Glenn.

Noha: [00:00:28] It’s great to be here with you.

Glenn: [00:00:29] Great to see.

Noha: [00:00:30] You. So we have been working with Keegan-Michael key as our celebrity spokesperson for the last three years. And we think what he does is really break through the sea of sameness in marketing with hospitality, because he uses humor. He’s very approachable, very likable, and our guests really resonate with him.

Glenn: [00:00:48] Yeah, it’s true because think about it. And listen, I’m not I don’t want to smack down everybody here, but all of the ads seem really the same. You see the the family walking into the lobby. Then you see them on a bed in a hotel room smiling. There’s nothing really there. It’s very fungible. It can mean for any other brand. But by utilizing his. The fire of his personality and his charismatic connection to audiences. I think you’re really able to break through that clutter and get your branding a lot clearer.

Noha: [00:01:15] That’s right. If we know that our guests really want to make sure that they’re getting the most value for their money, and what he does is help them feel confident that when they choose to stay at a choice hotel, they’re going to get just that, and they’re going to be able to go out and experience all the things that they value on their trip, whether it’s going to a concert, to a, a game or line dancing. If you stay with choice hotels, you’re going to get a good value for your money so that you can go out and experience the things that you value.

Glenn: [00:01:41] Yeah. That’s right. And what’s also interesting is how you’re really focusing on helping lead people into those experiences and choice privileges is really the, the gateway to connect you to customers and customers to great moments outside the hotel as well.

Noha: [00:01:55] That’s right. We’ve done a lot of research and we know that our guests have some passion points, and we want to enable them to experience those passions. So one of those is college sports. We have a partnership with Learfield Sports that gives our guests access to money, can’t buy experiences at big college football games and basketball games. We also have a partnership with Trackhouse Racing, which gives our guests access to NASCAR races, and they get to get up close and personal and see things that they wouldn’t otherwise get to see.

Glenn: [00:02:27] Yeah, and that’s really what it’s all about. If you’re connecting with customers, you could be everyone’s been there, done that. You need to get them access to things. You need to create those memorable moments and get them to book. And that’s why I like your strategy so much going forward. So what are other ways that you think about getting closer to customers through loyalty? I think what I recall from watching some of the sessions here is that you’re recognizing them more frequently as well, and you’ve kind of reevaluated the program to make it easier to attain different levels.

Noha: [00:02:55] That’s right. We relaunched the Choice Privileges Rewards program earlier this year, and we really did something different from others out there. So at a time when others are making it more expensive to redeem points, more difficult to earn points, we’re actually doing the exact opposite. We are making it easier for guests to earn points at lower stay increments. So we have introduced a second and third state bonus. We’ve also lowered the tier requirements. So the first elite tier status level is five nights instead of ten nights. And we’ve also added a tier at the top, the titanium level that rewards our most loyal guests. So we’re really excited about these changes. And we’ve already seen guests respond really positively to them.

Glenn: [00:03:41] Okay, so why should hotel owners care all about this?

Noha: [00:03:46] Hotel owners care about loyalty programs because we know that loyalty members stay more often and they spend more at our hotels. It is a more cost effective guest to acquire and reacquire than a new guest. And so we’re really trying to build value into the program. So it’s very obvious to our guests that they should continue to do business with our hotels.

Glenn: [00:04:08] Yeah. In fact, I believe Q1 24, Q1 25 compared to Q1 26, you actually had five more 5% more participation of new loyalty members in that quarter than the previous year in the same quarter. And I know RevPAR hasn’t gone up 5%. So that shows me that they’re really staying a little bit longer now.

Noha: [00:04:28] That’s right. So the members who joined in Q1 of this year versus the members who joined in Q1 of last year, they spent 5% more with us.

Glenn: [00:04:37] Why do you why do you what do you think is attributing that growth now with loyalty, commitment.

Noha: [00:04:42] And we think that travelers have more stays in their wallet that they don’t necessarily put all with one company?

Glenn: [00:04:49] Yeah.

Noha: [00:04:49] You’re right. So that’s what we’re trying to incentivize here is for people to you know, look at the 22 brands that we have and realize that we have a brand and a location for every type of stay that they have.

Glenn: [00:05:01] Yeah, I love it. Know anything else that you want to add?

Noha: [00:05:03] We’re just really excited to have all of our franchisees with us here this week and continue to connect and, and deepen our relationships with them so that they can go out and help make the best guest experiences possible.

Glenn: [00:05:17] Well, thanks, Noah. This has definitely been a privilege to talk to you today. Sorry I make a lot of bad dad jokes, but that’s what that’s what you get. Like, share subscribe. You guys are the best. Remember, you’ve got one life, so blaze on. We’ll see you next time. Bye bye.