There's two types of people in this world: those who belong to every single rewards program under the sun and those who don't.
Personally, I tend to lean in the middle, where I belong to a few programs here and there but often forget to use them. I guess that makes it three types of people in this world?
Beginning Feb. 13, Starbucks will require users of its rewards program to spend even more to redeem free items, Today reports. If you want a free hot coffee, tea, bakery item or packaged snack, you'll need to rack up 100 points, or stars, whereas before it was 50.
"Customers can cash in 200 stars to get a free handcrafted beverage, such as a latte or Frappuccino or any hot breakfast item — and 300 stars can be redeemed for packaged salads, packaged protein boxes, a lunch sandwich or a packaged coffee item, such as whole bean coffee.
"Currently, customers only need 50 stars to get a brewed hot coffee, bakery item or tea, 150 for a handcrafted drink, hot breakfast or parfait, 200 for a salad, sandwich or protein box and 400 for select merchandise, such as a signature cup or coffee accessories or a full bag of coffee to take home," the news outlet reports.
Since I fall under the camp of "it doesn't really bother me because I can't remember the last time I even scanned my Starbucks app at the store," I figured I would search Twitter for some good public commentary to inject into this blog.
One user Tweeted "New Starbucks rewards program coming in February sucks" with a broken heart emoji capping the sentence. Another user wrote, "For the new Starbucks rewards program you need to spend $150 for a free latte. Ludicrous. Bye bye Starbucks, I'm going for a punch card on my local coffee shop."
The list of angry Tweets goes on.
After I had a vanilla latte on my mind, I then thought about hotel loyalty programs. If you think about it, essentially Starbucks is the branded big-box hotel and the local coffee shop is the independent boutique hotel.
So how are hotels approaching rewards programs in the new year?
I recently had a conversation with Remington Hotels Senior Vice President of Revenue Strategy Gilbert Arredondo, who mentioned to me he feels that "brands are doing a good job trying to pivot. The brands are rolling out more and more in terms of, you don't need to save up 50,000 points to get a free hotel stay. You can exchange a few thousand for a free breakfast. The brands are trying to leverage that and move faster.
"Gone are the days of, 'I'm going to save up and have a million points,'" he said.
Though not all boutique properties have loyalty programs in place, most owners I talk to say they make a conscious effort to surprise and delight guests and offer complimentary amenities.
I feel that hotel brand companies and individual properties are noticing that the younger generation is placing more value on being rewarded for paying into the services they use, and those "rewards" must be meaningful in some way.
Hotels need all the positive guest perception they can get. Guests today are especially basing a worthwhile hotel stay on the quality of service they received. If it didn't meet or exceed expectations, I think it's likely that guests will find another brand or property to try for their next overnight stay.
I asked a peer of mine how his recent stay was at a luxury hotel brand in Atlanta. He said the hotel itself was great, but the service wasn't. To me, that sounds like he won't maintain his loyalty to that brand.
Just like consumers of Starbucks are quick to pivot to other coffee shops if they feel they aren't getting all that they desire out of the product or service, so will hotel guests. As a result, this means fewer loyal customers flocking to your once highly praised property or brand.
I feel hotel companies would be wise to reevaluate loyalty programs and not wait for others to be the first.
How are your properties navigating guest loyalty programs? Are your teams reevaluating the perks? I'd love to hear from you.
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