BELLEVUE, Wash. — Expedia, Inc. has become the first online travel intermediary to display a hotel chain’s discounted loyalty rates next to standard rates, Tnooz reports. It’s also the first to promote a hotel’s loyalty program.
Red Lion, a 114-property brand in Canada and the U.S., has been promoting its loyalty rates alongside its standard rates on Expedia.com and Hotels.com for the past month. Customers who join the hotel’s loyalty program can benefit from lower rates and those who are already loyalty members can enjoy those same discounted rates by logging in with their existing credentials.
According to Red Lion, since its collaboration with Expedia, Inc., membership sign-ups has more than quadrupled.
Expedia is in “deep conversations with a lot of different chains” about similar arrangements, says Melissa Maher, SVP of Expedia’s Global Partner Group. “We don’t anticipate we’ll do it with all chains, but we expect many chains that don’t have large marketing budgets will find it valuable as a way to help them to grow membership in their loyalty programs.”
