In August 2018, Marriott International, the largest global hotel chain, announced plans for Marriott Bonvoy, a unified loyalty programme. As the Maryland, USA-based hospitality giant assured, the reward programme is now the largest in the global hospitality landscape.
Today, Marriott Bonvoy has replaced Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), its three reward system.
Now unified under Bonvoy, the reward programme gives Marriot’s 110 million members access to the largest, most extraordinary and diverse collection of properties in the world, to seamlessly book, earn and redeem for the first time ever across 29 participating brands and 6500 hotels in 127 countries and territories.
As well, the new programme offers the best of the three rewards programmes. While Marriott Rewards offered great rewards for all guests, particularly for members with modest number of stays, SPG provided particularly attractive rewards for travelers at the upper tiers. Under Bonvoy, Marriott has stepped up its game by combining the best of both, with attractive offerings at each tier. In addition, Bonvoy increases the number of points earned for each dollar spent and offers additional opportunities for members to earn points.
The loyalty programme is unmatched in the world because of the additional 110,000 new experiences on Moments in 1000 destinations and Moments Live, a collection of premiere musical and culinary events powered by Marriot’s partnerships with iconic brands.
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Also, members of the loyalty programme who love travel to pursue their passions or seeking out incredible experiences that will last a lifetime can share with friends and family and on social media.
It would be recalled that in effort to ensure successful shift from the old to the new reward programme, Marriott International launched a global marketing campaign that introduced Marriott Bonvoy (MarriottBonvoy.com). The campaign celebrated Marriott Bonvoy as a travel programme with the tag line “Rewards Reimagined” through its 30 hotel brands, extraordinary experiences and rich member benefits. The comprehensive campaign encompassed advertising across television, digital video, mobile, print, social media, out of home, and cinema, as well as, special events and member access to partner experiences around passion points like sports and entertainment. In addition, Marriott’s websites and mobile apps, co-branded credit cards and original content such as Marriott Bonvoy guest-room television and digital publication Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, all reflected the new name.
“Marriott Bonvoy expresses the joy of ‘good travel’ made possible by our unmatched portfolio of hotels, culture of hospitality and unique member benefits,” said Karin Timpone, global marketing officer, Marriott International. “Our aim is to build awareness for Marriott Bonvoy and to inspire more people to travel.”
The Marriott Bonvoy campaign spanned 22 countries pulsing media throughout the launch year and took advantage of major cultural events to further showcase the new travel programme around the world. The campaign was inclusive of television advertising and digital video in the U.S., as well as, in other global markets in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The initial television spot premiered in the U.S. during the 91st Oscars.
In Nigeria, members can take advantage of the unified loyalty programme at the five Marriot International hotels including; Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Sheraton Abuja Hotel, Four Points by Sheraton Lagos, Le Meridien Ogeyi Place Port Harcourt and the newly opened Marriott Ikeja Hotel. By staying in these hotels, members can earn and redeem their points.
Speaking in an interview on the importance of the Nigerian market and what it stands to benefit from the unified loyalty programmes, Neal Jones, chief sales and marketing officer, Middle East & Africa, Marriott International, said, “Our history and legacy on the continent has given us great insights into the market and the consumers in this part of the world. In fact, Nigeria was one of the key markets for our dedicated loyalty consumer research last year”.
We have been engaging with our loyalty members in Nigeria on a regular basis through their passion points, for example, the SPG Golf tournament in Port Harcourt. And this has allowed us to build our brand equity with them.
“With a strong footprint in the country, the Nigerian traveler is familiar with our brands and what they stand for. This gives us the opportunity to tap into the growing Nigerian outbound travel business. As Nigerian travelers explore the world, we believe they will look for our brands and our new loyalty program allows them to seamlessly book, earn and redeem across our portfolio globally”.
“The new programme is bound to resonate with the aspirational and affluent Nigerian traveler. Members can earn more, earn faster and can pursue their passions, which is what makes it the industry’s leading and richest loyalty programme”.
