Latest / The Modern Hotelier / #333: How A Loyalty Program Helps Independent Hotels Compete | with Audrey Yates & David Gavaldon
Transcript
- The Modern Hotelier #333: How A Loyalty Program Helps Independent Hotels Compete | with Audrey Yates & David Gavaldon === Audrey Yates: What are you doing? Just hanging out? David Gavaldon: Hanging out, relaxing. Audrey Yates: It's reserved, but should we take over their podcast for a bit? David Gavaldon: Why not? Yep. Audrey Yates: Okay, so David, you are new to our team—brand new at Stash, which is really exciting. This is your first big event for— David Gavaldon: Huge, yeah. Audrey Yates: First one— David Gavaldon: Ever... Audrey Yates: Independent hospitality. David Gavaldon: Yeah. Audrey Yates: So I guess if we have this platform real quick, we should talk about how you have experience working with Stash on the hotel side for several years. I'm kind of curious. You know, we spend a lot of time talking to hoteliers, working with hoteliers. I've been working with Stash for 15 years, so I know this side of the business, right? I know how we help hoteliers. I know why we do what we do. But I'm curious: when you were on the hotel side, what made it a no-brainer to work with Stash? David Gavaldon: Given the fact that we're independent hotels, we have to compete with the big chains. Audrey Yates: Right. David Gavaldon: In certain cities, you're a lone independent hotel surrounded by corporate giants. How do we get guests to stay with us? A program like Stash actually gives us the opportunity to compete, to basically say, "Hey, we also have a loyalty program; come stay at ours." I feel like with independent hotels, the service is just a little more refined, because again, we're not these corporate giants that have all these standards and protocols where everybody becomes robots to a certain extent. I feel like having a program like Stash helps the little guy in a big pot. Audrey Yates: Right. It's like David and Goliath, as we always say. David Gavaldon: Exactly. Audrey Yates: What's interesting about that is what makes independent hotels so special: they don't have to conform to brand standards and corporate standards. They get to really be in charge of the guest experience. When we developed this program, the whole goal was to allow independent hotels to keep that independent spirit about them. Every hotel in our network is so different—some are managed by the same company, while others are single standalone owner/operators. We wanted to make sure that we built a program that was really inclusive and could help every type of independent hotel. I know you worked at quite a few different types of properties. David Gavaldon: I did, yeah. Audrey Yates: And the needs of those properties were probably really different. David Gavaldon: That's for sure. Audrey Yates: What did you think in some of those instances? What was it about the Stash guest or the experience of a guest who is part of the loyalty program choosing your hotels because they're part of a network? Did you see a difference in those types of guests versus an OTA guest? David Gavaldon: Oh, 100%. I can say an OTA guest is like, "Hey, I was traveling and booked this last minute." They don't really care about loyalty; they don't understand it. They just saw the cheaper price— Audrey Yates: And don't understand the backend. David Gavaldon: 100%. But then you have your loyalty guests—the professional hotelier guests, if you will—that understand the need. They want to feel special. They want their preferences mentioned upon check-in. They want all of the things that make the hotel your home for the night, or multiple nights, however long you're staying. You mentioned that I worked at several hotels that had Stash. Those properties were vastly different, and the benefits that Stash brought to each of them were actually different too. We had one in particular that was more of a pass-through hotel. But even if guests were only there for one night on their way to a different destination, they still made it a point to stay there. During my time at that hotel, I saw a lot of repeat guests, and that was actually the first hotel where I was introduced to Stash. Flash forward a couple of years later to a new hotel that I onboarded, but it had a different need: we were trying to get visibility. We were trying to say, "Hey, this is a portfolio." Guests in the area weren't familiar with this hotel, so it served a different purpose. You had familiarity with one hotel versus one that was brand new and just looking for exposure. Audrey Yates: Well, we talk a lot about the network effect of Stash, right? With 1.4 million members who are avid independent travelers, they tend to spend a little bit more and stay more often. They're seasoned guests and travelers. We talk a lot about the network effect, which is basically when someone is introduced to the program at one hotel they stay at where they'd never heard of Stash before. They didn't even know an independent hotel could have a loyalty program, and then they're immediately brought into the network. The first correspondence or email they get from us introduces them to the portfolio, and they realize that there are almost 400 independent hotels in North America that they can tap into. One of the things we see often, especially when working with management companies that have lots of hotels, is that someone stays at one hotel, learns about Stash through the front desk, enrolls in the program, and then goes on to stay at another hotel in that same portfolio because they found it through Stash or learned about the management company. Did you see that a lot, since the company you were with had multiple hotels in a portfolio? Did you see people you could look up and say, "Oh, they stayed at this property, and now they're here"? David Gavaldon: I did, multiple times. This hotel I was referencing that needed the visibility is in a portfolio next to partner hotels in a major city. The hotel I was at was not in a major city, but oftentimes guests would say, "Oh, we visited this hotel two hours away, and we found this hotel, and it's so amazing and beautiful—it had just been renovated." So yeah, it's definitely that partnership of, "Okay, I'm staying at this hotel, I signed up here, now I can go to the website, look at it, and realize I'm traveling there next summer for a conference, so I'm going to stay there." Audrey Yates: Yeah, or "I'm making a pit stop there and I never would've thought of it, but I really want to check out this hotel that I was introduced to through this network." David Gavaldon: Right. Audrey Yates: You know, all of us at Stash and our partner hotels can talk for days about the benefits of the program—converting OTA guests, groups, meetings, exposure, marketing, and all of that. But if you were back in your seat at the hotel, what are the no-brainers of why this program is so beneficial for any type of independent property, whether you're 10 rooms or 1,000 rooms? David Gavaldon: It's very rare that a hotel can independently stand without any sort of assistance—in fact, I can't think of one, though I'm sure they exist. Audrey Yates: Yeah, maybe some small owner/operator boutique bed and breakfasts and things. David Gavaldon: But given that you have to partner with an OTA—it doesn't really matter which one—Stash is a no-brainer for me. When I was a hotelier onboarding new properties, my big thing was: we have the product, the service, and the luxury aspect, but we don't have the exposure. Specifically, where certain hotels were located, it was a great tourist destination. So why not join this program that offers great exposure? That was my big thing: why wouldn't we want to join? Audrey Yates: Yeah, and what's the downside, right? You get new guests, exposure, and marketing opportunities. The other nice thing is that Stash can work with almost every PMS and CRS. You hear a lot that people don't want to change their tech stack, but as we all know, hotels have to implement new tech stacks all the time. Being able to tap into this network because of existing integrations makes it really easy to do. It's funny because a lot of people say, "Well, aren't you just like an OTA?" or "Aren't you just a booking engine?" David Gavaldon: Right. Audrey Yates: Those are two words where I'm like, "OTA? Stop, stop, stop." We're not. We do have booking abilities on our site through direct integrations, but we are the anti-OTA. We're anti-chain, anti-OTA, and our whole goal is to get guests to understand that booking direct is not only better for you as a guest, but it is astronomically better for the hotel. I think a lot of consumers just don't know that side of the hotel business. Now, with technology changing, AI, and everything we're seeing in the market around distribution— David Gavaldon: Right. Audrey Yates: It's going to be really, really hard for independent hotels to compete. David Gavaldon: It's funny you say "get guests to understand," but we also need to get hotels to understand. Coming from the hotel side, when you don't understand a loyalty program, it's not a quick fix; it's a partnership. There have to be aspects that the hotel is willing to provide to Stash that Stash is in return going to provide to the hotels. Partnerships are not one-way streets. Audrey Yates: Right, in any aspect of your life. No partnership should ever be a one-way street, whether business or personal, otherwise it fails. David Gavaldon: Right. So I feel like if the hotel is fully behind the program and understands it... Stash does a great job. I will say this not because I'm part of the team now— Audrey Yates: I didn't even pay you to say any of this. David Gavaldon: I know, right? No, Stash did a great job onboarding hotels. They were very responsive. Obviously, you and I worked on a couple of partnerships together, and you were always responsive. Others on the team were always there, and I didn't have to wait. That's a big thing in the hospitality world, because you would be amazed at how many people don't respond to emails. Audrey Yates: All the time. We deal with it all the time, and yes, I totally get it. David Gavaldon: It's shocking to me. Audrey Yates: It is, it's crazy. Maybe it's just because of the roles we're in or our personality types, but I feel like there is no ability for me to not respond in a timely manner to things. It is interesting how that doesn't happen. But you mentioned the whole partnership part. Stash has been around for 16 years, and some of our partner hotels we have worked with since day one, and they are still here as huge advocates for the program. Then, of course, we've added so many new partnerships even in this past year. I love to connect new hotels with some of our existing partners or people who have worked with multiple hotels of ours, because everybody's needs are going to be different, but there's somebody within our network who can always answer that question too. If anyone on the Stash team doesn't know how to help with something, I guarantee we have a hotelier in our network who does. We pride ourselves on being like a family. We may have almost 400 hotels and 1.4 million members, but at the end of the day, what we set out to create from day one was this partnership and family. When you, as a hotelier—whether you have 1,000 rooms or 10—join the network, you're the same piece of the puzzle. Everyone gets the exact same attention and dedication. David Gavaldon: Delivery, yeah. Audrey Yates: 100%. That's always been really important to us. David Gavaldon: I think the important thing about the process—because it is tedious, but Stash makes it efficient— Audrey Yates: Oh, good. David Gavaldon: It's an easy process if you're responding and on track. Audrey Yates: If you're dedicated to the process and getting it done. We try to make it so easy. David Gavaldon: You all do a great job of saying, "This is the timeline, this is what we need." Audrey Yates: Yeah. David Gavaldon: Speaking again as a hotelier, there are a lot of factors that the Stash side doesn't see, like whether a hotel is in budget season, going through a renovation, or having corporate visits today. Whatever may be going on, it comes down to communication. If I'm responsible for completing these tasks, it should be my responsibility to say, "Hey, by the way, I'm going to be tied up for the next week, so expect a delayed response." Audrey Yates: Right, which is great. David Gavaldon: And then we're not bugging them. So again, communication and a two-way partnership. Audrey Yates: That's why we call our partner advocate team "partner advocates." They're not account managers or account executives; they are literally there to advocate for the partners, from onboarding through the lifecycle of the partnership. Their entire goal is to get you onboarded, comfortable, and ready to use the program, and then to answer questions on how to use the groups and sales side, get more referred guests, and all of these different things. They do a really good job. We pride ourselves on the fact that you're not going to have seven different people in the onboarding process; you've got a dedicated partner advocate. All of us at Stash are truly very accessible. On the sales side, when we partner with a hotel, we don't just go away and pass them to the next team—we stay really involved. I think that's why, at your prior hotels, you had a really good relationship with a lot of the Stash people you talked with. When you'd move to the next hotel, the first thing you would do was shoot off an email saying, "Here's the hotel I'm at now. Can't wait to implement it." David Gavaldon: Yeah, that's exactly what happened at least two times. Obviously, the partner advocate retired— Audrey Yates: He earned it. He so earned it. He was the best. David Gavaldon: Yeah, but he was a great guy, and I would always reach out to him when I was assigned to a new hotel that I knew wasn't in the Stash portfolio and say, "Hey, let's chat." He was responsive, and I was looking forward to working with him. I'm not going to hate on somebody for retiring. Audrey Yates: Okay, so I'm curious. I was never a hotelier. I worked in travel in a lot of different aspects, but I never ran a hotel. I've worked with a lot of hoteliers over the years, but from your viewpoint, how important is genuine buy-in from all levels at a hotel when you're implementing something like Stash? David Gavaldon: It's just as important as wanting to roll out your service standards or your training program. If hotels think that loyalty is going to change and bring in extra revenue right away without any knowledge or buy-in from the staff, it won't work. I've checked into a couple of hotels that don't know what their loyalty program is—not specifically Stash, but just in general. I am a lifetime platinum member for one of the other chains, and it bugs me when I don't get that mention like, "Thanks for being a loyalty member." If the staff doesn't buy into it, why should the guests? Audrey Yates: Oh, that's a good point. David Gavaldon: It comes down to staying on top of your team and ensuring training. Do little contests! There was a hotel I enrolled into Stash where the front desk went crazy because they loved the bonus when they got sign-ups for guests. They became competitive with each other, and it helped them all really bleed Stash and buy into it. So yeah, I'd say that would be the most important. Audrey Yates: That's great. So what would you tell a hotel that is interested in implementing something like Stash? Steve Carran: Hey. What's going on here? Audrey Yates: Well, the couches were free, so we thought— Steve Carran: You guys gotta get out of here. Audrey Yates: Oh, right. Sorry. David Millili: Well, that does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier, the most engaged podcast in hospitality.