Why hotel loyalty programmes matter this summer

Once again, summer break is here, and tourist traffic is beginning to build across top destinations.

But before hitting the road and airports, it is very crucial to check one’s pocket, especially now that frequent travellers are having more financial burdens to bear due to the soaring costs of airfares and hotel accommodation globally.

It is estimated that hotel accommodation and airfare account for over 70 percent of travel budget, giving more opportunities to those with deep pockets, while making travel on budget and loyalty programmes very necessary for frequent travellers.

The rising costs also point to the usefulness of hotel and airline loyalty programmes, especially for members.

In view of the above, this summer, many travellers and hotel guests are going to pay as low as half the price of their airfares and hotel rooms, no matter how long-haul the flight is or how long they stay in the hotel, just because they are members of a loyalty programme and are taking advantage of that to convert their accumulated points to rooms and airfares.

While that is a huge incentive for guests and travellers, it points to the benefits many are losing for just sleeping in hotels or flying an airline without making each stay or flight matter afterwards.

“When you sleep in a hotel, even for one night, you accumulate points if you are a registered member of the hotel’s loyalty programme,” Emmanuel Ele, CEO, Six Regions Hotel, explained. “You can keep sleeping and keep accumulating the points and convert them to free or heavily discounted accommodation in any hotel covered by the loyalty programme.

“The initiative is all for the guests and worth doing. The same also applies to many airlines, whose points can be converted to free or heavily discounted flights in the future”.

Of course, all major global hotel chains run loyalty programmes. From Hilton Honours, Marriott Bonvoy, Radisson Rewards, Accor Live Limitless, among others, including the unbranded hotels, these initiatives are free to join and enable guests to earn points anytime they stay in the hotels that are covered in the loyalty programme network.

But Derek Stevens, a Hoedspruit, South Africa-based hospitality expert, decried that most guests hardly see a reason to join a hotel reward system, forgoing the huge benefits from doing so.

“I was part of a customer behaviour research project in 2023 and 2024 the discoveries were intriguing. Most uninformed guests and frequent travellers hardly see reasons to join loyalty programmes and reward systems, no matter how good,” he said.

“We also discovered that many African travellers do not care about loyalty programmes, even those who are on sponsored trips. But over 70 percent of travellers from Europe, and 60 per cent from North America are members of multiple loyalty programmes, including hotel chains and airlines”.

Ajoke Ali-Hamisu, a marketing executive at a Lagos-based international hotel chain, toed Stevens’ line, saying that most Nigerian guests see hotel accommodation as a place for passing the night, leaving out many other things that can impact their stay and even afterwards.

“We have loyalty programmes, but a handful of our guests are not members despite efforts to enrol them. But we keep pushing because of the benefits of such membership outside our hotel and to other hotels under the loyalty programme,” she said.

“We have a fitness centre, swimming pool, spa, sports centre, among other recreational activities, but most Nigerian guests prefer to stay in their hotel rooms, make room orders and check out when they are done. But there is more to explore beyond the room, a guest to persuade to use the gym or swimming pool, will hardly enroll into the loyalty programme if not cajoled too”.

But the various loyalty programmes work for members, who will enjoy more for less this summer and throughout the year for just being members.

For instance, Marriott International, with over 8,000 hotels across the world, the largest loyalty network, is offering guests the opportunity to earn points from their spending while staying in the hotel and also redeem them at any of the participating hotels.

By joining Marriott Bonvoy, the guests stand to enjoy guaranteed best rate or lowest booking rates all the time, free wi-fi, access to the Marriott Bonvoy™ app and mobile or contactless check-in with the app and using the reward points to book a free night hotel stay or flight tickets.

Also, since March 2026, a recent key partnership between Marriott Bonvoy and Ethiopian Airlines has seen many guests and passengers taking advantage of Ethiopian Airlines’ network of over 145 destinations and Marriott Bonvoy’s global portfolio of more than 30 hotel brands and 10,000 destinations worldwide, to access cheaper flights and rooms.

In Nigeria, you can redeem the points at any of the Marriott hotels, including Four Points By Sheraton Lagos, Four Points By Sheraton Ikot Ekpene, Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Lagos Marriott Hotel Ikeja, Protea Hotel Lagos Kuramo Waters, Protea Hotel Ikeja Select and Protea Hotel Owerri Select.

Same discounts apply to corporate clients, who can use the points they earned during a group stay in a hotel to bargain for cheaper rates for conferencing facilities.

The Hilton Honours offers beyond heavily discounted room rates to flight tickets, as a guest can choose to use points earned during their stay for accommodation or flight tickets across its network and two properties in Nigeria: Transcorp Hilton Abuja Hotel and Legend Hotel Lagos Airport, Curio Collection by Hilton.

The same applies to the Accor Live Limitless loyalty programme, which can be redeemed in Accor-branded hotels across the world and at Mövenpick Hotel Ikoyi, Lagos.

Also, members of Radisson Rewards, the loyalty programme of Radisson Hotel Group, get member-only rates, which enable them to save up to 10 percent on accommodation costs across over 600 Radisson hotels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Radisson Rewards can be redeemed at the group’s properties in Nigeria, including Radisson Blu Anchorage Victoria Island, Radisson Blu Ikeja Hotel, Radisson Ikeja, Park Inn By Radisson, Victoria Island, all in Lagos and at any participating Radisson hotel across the world.

Again, some indigenous hotels like Continental Hotels Nigeria, Citiheights Hotels, Eko Hotel and Suites run exciting loyalty programmes that the guests can also take advantage of.

So, it is obvious that hotel loyalty programmes can help frequent travellers to save on accommodation and access good deals because at every stay, a guest gains points that translate into cheaper accommodation or even discounted flight tickets.

By becoming a member of a hotel reward club, you can save lots of money on accommodation, as well as being constantly reminded of the hotel’s deals and best prices at all times.

So, join a loyalty programme and get more value from your stay by earning points, which can translate to discounted rooms and huge savings, extended stay, flight tickets, among other benefits.

Going forward, to enjoy the benefits of a free or heavily discounted hotel accommodation while on a trip or holiday, all you need to do is to ask the front desk at the hotel to enrol you, and you will keep earning points that will be useful to you someday.