Latest / Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360 / #396: Hilton: A Growing Portfolio, Strategic Partnerships, and Digital Innovation Create a Better Customer Experience for Guests

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#396: Hilton: A Growing Portfolio, Strategic Partnerships, and Digital Innovation Create a Better Customer Experience for Guests · Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: The competition in the travel industry is as fierce as it has ever been.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Marquee hotel brands are looking for ways to differentiate their offerings to resonate more closely with their customers expectations and interests in a unique and personalized experience.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Partnerships are a big piece of that equation, especially those that can add value to brands' customers through effective value constructs.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: The partnerships that can create alignment between both brands as well as their customers can be a powerful fulcrum of differentiation for brands as well as their customer loyalty offerings offerings.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Yet, as we heard at the 2024 Loyalty Expo and as well as in conversations we have with brand members of Loyalty360, in the current economic environment, many are being asked to do more with less.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: There are also additional challenges regarding partnerships, such as knowing your customer financial performance metrics, mutual organization buy-in.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: That can often hinder effectiveness.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Hilton has traditionally had a laser-like approach regarding their partnerships.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: They want to make sure that they drive value to their Hilton owners members.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Today we are going to learn more about Hilton and how they effectively drive their partnership approach and their recent partnership with small luxury hotels of the world.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: We want to welcome back Brad Anderson he's the vice president in charge of running the Hilton Honors Program and welcome back to our Leaders in Customer Loyalty Program series.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Thanks, brad.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Hey, mark, doing great.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me back on the podcast videocast Absolutely.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Hilton, as we know, is a recognized brand around the world, but for our listeners, can you give us a short introduction to Hilton I think it's a very interesting story and tell us a little bit about your role with the company and also your experience in customer loyalty?
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It'd be great to know.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, yeah.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: First and foremost, for those folks who didn't watch the last podcast, I'm first a father of two young kids, both under six, and a partner of my wife of 10 years, and at Hilton, I am the vice president of Hilton Honors, our award-winning loyalty program, reaching almost 195 million members worldwide now as of the last few months.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: So Hilton, for folks that don't know, is a leading global hospitality company.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: We have 24 world-class brands for all your stay needs and over 7,800 properties, 126 countries and territories for any of your journeys.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: You need to stay with us.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I've been with the Hilton Honors brand for close to eight years now and in that time my team's really charted new courses for the program.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: We've achieved massive growth, so almost 130 million new members since I joined.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: I think by the time we're done speaking, we'll have probably added a couple of thousand more members.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: So, just briefly, in my current role I have the incredible opportunity to lead the overall global strategy for Hilton Honors how we position the program as the best global loyalty program experience across all industries and as a hospitality brand.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Our goal is really to make that stay experience better for our value members in almost every corner of the world.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: So this includes program design, making the value proposition better and the loyalty redions better and making travel just more seamless and flexible for our members.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So it's a short intro for me and what we do at Hilton Excellent, you mentioned you are an award-winning program, a very unique program.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I actually had the privilege of staying at a Spark Hotel this past week.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Ah, yes, new brand, new brand, yeah, interesting.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I was dropping my daughter off uh, who plays soccer at eastern michigan, uh, and michigan was also coming back in uh, in this school.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: So it was quite, quite crowded there and the hotels were quite expensive.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: So I was like, do I want to pay 500 at night or do I want?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: But no, it stayed the spark, very nice, and it was, uh, very interesting too, because, uh, the because the people that worked there were very engaging.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you notice it, sometimes you don't.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: They just really bought in and it was a previous brand up till July this year and they had transitioned over.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: And I actually had some conversations with them just regarding the new approach and new Hilton.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: They said they loved it much more than the previous brand, which we won't name, and they loved just the commitment to the customer but also commitment to the employee, and so it was an interesting stay in new properties.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Congratulations on the new Spark brand.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it was very interesting just to hear the individuals speak with passion about the program and the commitment to the employee.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: So that was great to hear.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: So, getting back to the program, the award-winning customer loyalty program, can you tell us a little bit how the program works for who may not be familiar with it and how guests engage with it?
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Hilton Honors is a free loyalty program that allows members to earn and redeem points on their Hilton stays.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: So that's first and foremost, but we also really imbue the personalized experiences and access to other exclusive experiences that money can't buy.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: So, generally, if you book through Hiltoncom and the honors app, you can stay in at our 7,800 hotels.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Of course, we've also been trying to build more ways to stay in dream destinations.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: So one new experience that we just launched is something a partnership with AutoCamp.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: If you're familiar with the kind of outdoor hospitality company that has like outdoor ventures with, you know boutique hotel experiences.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: They have a exclusive Airstream experience, so you know.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: So that's one experience of why you would stay and what's unique about us.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: And beyond hotels and hospitality, we also have a number of ways to earn and redeem points, either through our credit cards or through partners like lyft and amazon.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: So even if you, you know, have a few stays, we still want to make sure it's valuable to you to reward you as a member.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: So so those are some of the things, uh, just the basics to know what's going on.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: You keep the program very relevant.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: You add new functionality.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: You add new reward options to focus on personalization to the individual right.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: You guys do a great job of that, I know.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Recently you added a luxury hotel experience with the kind of the addition of the 400 or so small luxury hotels of world collection.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Can you share how that kind of adds to the benefit, the value of the program?
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: It also helps in the personalization efforts for the program.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's great, thank you for bringing it up.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: So in February we announced an exclusive partnership with the Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: It's a project that I've been personally been involved in for a while now, but we actually launched nearly 300 of those properties of SLH's collection on Hilton's booking channel and platform.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: We've got 100 more hotels to come online soon, so we'll be at about nearly 400 will be available through Hilton.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: So what's great about this is it really dramatically expands the luxury travel experiences which we know is super critical for loyalty programs and hospitality.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: And these are very unique smaller hotels and these complement our existing luxury brands like Waldorf, astoria or Conrad or LXR and Signia by Hilton.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: So these 400 properties is great because it engages our existing members, but there's also a lot of folks who like to stay at SLHs and want to engage with a loyalty experience.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: So, beyond just earning and burning points which is a key piece of it and earning credit at these hotels, they also get exclusive benefits piece of it.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And earning credit at these hotels, they also get exclusive benefits.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: So these benefits provide us a better stay experience just like any of our other properties.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: You get rate discounts.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: You get hydration for our member in Silver Tears and for our Golden Diamonds the best of the best.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: They also get space available, upgrades and complimentary continental breakfast, similar to consistency across the program.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: So we want to make sure you're having similar experiences, but unique hotel experiences and if I can, I'll give you an example or two if you're down for that.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: So a few hotels.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: My family, we just went to Scandinavia recently in the spring and Copenhagen, if you've been there, they have this hotel calledhotel, called Nim Hotel, and it's actually located in the famous Tivoli Gardens, which is an amusement park that was there before Disneyland, and it's actually in the building that's actually in the actual amusement park, which is really, really cool, a stylized building.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: So that's one example.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: The second one I'll give you.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: The last one I'll give you is in Marbella, spain.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: They have about a hundred room hotel and it's, as you imagine, a small laid back beach resort.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: You do beach by day and then you have the high end fine dining at night and it's just a really great experience for those folks traveling through Europe.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: But yeah, those are just two examples of these kind of hotels I think really complements Hilton's portfolio well in different parts of the world.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: That's awesome, and there's been a lot of articles this summer about how kind of the more upscale luxury travel, the exclusive travel with personalized engagement, personalized experiences is really driving the travel industry now to a large extent Absolutely.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: When you look at partnerships, that's one thing Hilton does an amazing job of is finding the right partner instead of having thousands of affiliate-based partners.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: You work in a manner to understand the customers, what their needs are, and find partners that are aligned with the brand.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: It can be a very challenging time right now to find partnerships that work and have synergy for both or three or four of the brands as well, but you guys seem to do that Hilton does in a very unique way.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: The process seems to take longer than it may have in the past as well.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: So you know this partnership between Hilton and SLH is one of, you know, a great example.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: But can you provide us another example or two of partnerships that are working well for Hilton and how you focus on partnerships to add value to the portfolio?
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let me give you just kind of general thought.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Some ways you think about partners and I covered some of this at the Loyalty Expo as well but it's really a matter of finding the right opportunity.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So I can use SLH as an example and other examples, but we're trying to find a partner that compliments each other well and for SLH specifically, they have a number of different properties across the world, but they're mostly consolidated about 60% in Europe, middle East Africa, 20% in Asia and 20% in the Americas.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: So you look at Hilton's portfolio.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: We still have opportunities in these smaller, beyond the major city opportunities.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: So in Italy, think that smaller, rural area for these amazing experiences.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: So when you look at the overlay of a partnership, you want to see if we're complementing each other versus having things that are in the same space as each other.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I'd say, secondly, and if they're listening, you got to find the right partner that's really willing to work with you and work through opportunities and trying to find the right customer experience.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: And we certainly have that with SLH and their amazing corporate team and hotel teams.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: And I'd say you know example, past examples Lyft Lyft's a great partner in terms of wanting to actually innovate the customer experience where you know we did an earn and burn relationship, which is great.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: We actually integrate it in our app.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: When you're looking to go in our hotels, it pre-populates the address of the hotel in the Lyft app from the Hilton Honors app.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: So they were very passionate, are very passionate about the customer experience.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: So when you get those two groups together that want to really innovate and make this thing work great across two companies, that's where the magic happens, for sure.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Excellent, and I know in the countless discussions that you and I have had, hilton is very focused on providing exceptional guest service before, during and after.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Say, a lot of your innovations from you know, the keyless check-in, you know, and the partnerships and the food and just the opportunities that you provide are very important.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: So how does Hilton ensure and focus on this seamless travel experience?
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: You know, especially when you look at the partnerships, like Small Hotels of the World, it's just a, you know, priority focus.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: So you know what does it mean to Hilton in that regard?
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: You know what I love about being in the loyalty program industry is loyalty programs have a lot of power in terms of you know, I see honors, hilton honors as the connective tissue across our branded experiences and I'm sure you've seen that similarly across the industry.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: In some ways, we call it a loyalty program, but I think it really undersells the value that it's the way we connect with every one of our guests in that meaningful, purposeful way.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: So you know, in terms of, we have 24 fantastic brands.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: We have the two partnerships I talked about AutoCamp and SLH.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: But you want to make sure it feels consistent.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: It feels like a seamless experience when you book an SLH or a Waldorf or Conrad, et cetera, or a Spark, as you said.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: So you know, our technology stack really helps us do that.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the app and our websites, but I'd say that the benefits are important too.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: You want to be locally relevant in different parts of the world, so we have some nuances, but you know it's like you know flexible use of our points and money slider we're the only one in the industry that does that to really flexibly know exactly what you need.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: And if you don't have all the points, then use some of them and go.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Stay at our great hotels, For example.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: We haven't talked about this, but AutoCamp, we went and built benefits with them, right, so if you're a silver member, you show up and have water that's similar or consistent to our hotels.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: But what's really cool is for our Golden Diamond members.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: We invented a benefit with them for a bundle of firewood per stay, which makes sense when you're at an Airstream AutoCamp experience, and for our best guess, we created a smore kit per stay.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: So just like little innovations, but I'd say that you know, that's, you know, surprised them a little bit but keeps them consistency.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: So that's how we view the consistency across our brands and partners Excellent.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: We view the consistency across our brands and partners Excellent.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I know again another topic you and I have had, especially you're involved in some of the advisory board meeting within the organization.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: So we've had a number of recent discussions coming from the 2024 Loyalty Expo about understanding and marketing to kind of the new generation of customers.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Right, gen Z, millennials are starting to increasingly embrace loyalty programs, but they want digital platforms.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: They want maybe different features and benefits that maybe an older generation may not want.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: So when you look at Hilton and their efforts to engage a new generation of travelers while still providing a great experience for everyone, how are you managing both?
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: How are you keeping the program so consistent and impactful now but also looking for that next generation of program of engagement?
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: We've done some research.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Recently we put out a trends report.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: We said the Gen Z traveler as well as younger millennials.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: So about 64% of Gen Zs and 67% of millennials really prioritize loyalty programs when traveling, which is great for our industry.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: That's what you want to hear.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: And then 81% of the Gen Z folks and 84 percent of millennials really appreciate travel apps that reduce the friction.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: They expect that.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: They're digitally native, they grew up with that, so we've put a ton of effort into our digital innovations.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: We've always been doing that for the last decade, but it's even more critical now.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: So you've experienced the app.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I assume you can do everything you need in the app If you want to stay and book, check your points, check in digitally, do a digital key, check out.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: That's what a lot of these customers are expecting.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: And the seamlessness of that because you can create that, but does it actually work and work well across every single hotel is the challenge.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: So one innovation we've done recently is digital key share.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've experienced this with your daughter, but we're the only one in the industry that allows you to actually share digital keys, and we focused on that because it was really important to our customers, as we learned a lot with our digital key platform.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: So it's really seamless.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: It's like two clicks and a text and you have your key very safely gone to another person in your party.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: So I think examples like that that's how you're going to win with our younger customers that you actually speak their language and focus on those things that they need, and loyalty programs can really deliver a lot for that for sure.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Excellent, I'm a big fan.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I have four kids and the first two are Division I athletes and I always end up going and watching them on the road and invariably they always want to stay with me and invariably we go through 112 keys.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: So, exactly, save the environment, use the digital key.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: You're good to go, yes, and, and they are both focused on recycling and so, yeah, it's.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: It's a great app, very flexible, um, and obviously, being a, a diamond or gold guy, depending on where I am in the year, that that year very unique engagement, which is great, and I know you guys focus on that.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: So the commitment you have to the holistic approach to the program is commandable for sure.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Next, it's the last time we spoke has there been any loyalty program news or brand campaigns that may inspire you as a customer, of customer loyalty?
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I study the market across industry obviously looking for our next collaboration, or so One I've seen in the last few months has gotten really good marks.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've experienced it Addy Club through Adidas or Adidas depends on where you are in the world.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: It's a really interesting program that's starting to do some cool things.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: We're obviously thinking about different innovations for the program.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: They do something called Addy Days, which is close to like Prime Days, which I think is an interesting technique.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: They offer free shipping, member-only products, so drops just for members driving that kind of reason to join the club.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: They've been doing some cool stuff with Calm as a membership group, so kind of thinking about wellness and this idea of early access programs and recognizing personalization and birthdays.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: So those are a few things I've seen.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: That is kind of different.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I think it's a spin of different things in the industry.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: So keep an eye out for that.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: If you're getting some athletic here, okay, good, excellent.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Hilton has been quite busy this year, adding the share key, functionality, partnership with the small luxury hotels of the world.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: You know what's next.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: What can Hilton honors members expect for the remainder of the year?
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely Many, many things going on.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Two really recent ones, if you've missed the news.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: We acquired graduate hotels graduate by Hilton, so they're about 34.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: And you spoke about colleges a bit 34 properties across colleges, mostly US, a few in the UK, and so we've been hard at work kind of getting those hotels stood up.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Many of them are live on Hiltoncom, many are coming soon.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: So that is going to be really fun to focus on the university experience and parents traveling to universities and having a great Hilton moment with graduate.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: We also just launched we did an acquisition with a partnership with Nomad If you've heard that brand.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: It's a smaller luxury lifestyle hotel.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: They have one in London that we just launched on our platforms.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: We're looking to expand that to a lot of different high-end markets.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: So those folks that are luxury lifestyle attuned, it's a great London hotel.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: I just had a chance to be there a few weeks ago to just give a new spin for our luxury portfolio on top of the great stuff we talked about, and I'd encourage listeners to go to Hilton Honors Experiences and check out what we have.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: It's where you bid your points or can redeem points for once in a lifetime things through our partners.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: So one really cool thing is McLaren Formula One in Singapore is the next Grand Prix race Next year will be one in vegas.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: The f1 um theme, uh fan base has been growing exponentially across the world.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: So you know we have exclusive rights to have you burn your points to have a great mclaren experience um, with, with that, uh, with that experience, um.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: And we've been going more into food.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: So we've a partnership with the james beard um experience and there's an award-winning chef through that experience that you can go and have a great experience, an intimate dinner series.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: So just different fun things that our members really can only access through Hilton Honors.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: So I'd say, keep an eye out for that.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: And then, lastly, I'd say keep an eye out for new openings.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I don't think people always think about that, but Hilton is always growing.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Hilton Honors is growing by our hotels.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: So, beyond SLH and all the great things I've talked about, there's a lot of cool hotels in new places in the world.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: One example is Hilton Kathmandu in Nepal.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: We just opened.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: So this is like a different new.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I won't go through all the lists, but those are exciting new things for the program too that people always think about.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: So go save up your points and go redeem at our hotels across other parts of the world.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: What's the buy-in point-wise for a McLaren F1 experience?
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good question.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Depends on if it's a bid for or it's a straight redeem.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: There's two different types.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: So you're probably looking a pretty penny on points, but some of them are more accessible than you think.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: So they always are changing.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: So I'd say, go to that website and check it out.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I have about 300,000 points right now.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Do I have a shot or am I out?
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: You got shots all across the Experiences platform.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'll check it.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot on there.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Go, take a look.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Very good, I'll check it out and see what I have there.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: That'd be good.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: And last question obviously appreciate everything you do for Loyalty360 and for the industry.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: You're very actively involved in promoting the industry.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: But what can Loyalty360 do?
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: What can the association do to kind of help you and your team with your customer loyalty efforts?
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've talked a lot as a team.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I think what's really great about Loyalty360 is that it's just helping our industry stay on top of trends and sharing information about discussions in the loyalty space.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: As a loyalty leader, you might be struggling with a certain topic or a hot topic across the industry and just being able to talk to your peers at different levels of leadership within your program.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I think has been hugely valuable just to have these conversations, see what's working well, share notes on what you can or cannot do in the industry, and I really encourage folks to get to the events.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I like live events and being able to share a hospitality moment with my peers.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: So the Loyalty360 Expo for the folks that are listening for that great experience to really learn, showcase what you're doing with innovations and just really build that creative thinking.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: I came out with like 100 new ideas from the last expo, so that's really great, great.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: I think that's, uh, you know, really unique of what you're providing.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Mark that's.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: So thank you very much for that.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: And now we have our quick fire question around.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Uh, we like to keep these to a uh, one word or short phrase response, or I get in trouble here and it looks like we have a little different questions here today, so I'm looking for a piece.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Um, first off, what is your favorite food?
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's good.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I am a sucker for sushi, particularly at a fish market in tokyo like that's the best place to get it.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: So I love what.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: What food haven't you tried?
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: But it's kind of on your bucket list or would you like to try?
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, um, I've been talking to our sing Singapore team a little bit about Southeast Asia.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: There's this fruit called salak or snake fruit.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: It's native to Indonesia.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I want to try it.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: They keep talking about the taste of it.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I always like to try something interesting in my travels.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: What excites you?
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: New possibilities, okay.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: What do you find tiresome?
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: What excites you new possibilities, okay.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: And what do you find tiresome?
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Gosh.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot waiting for an airplane to arrive or leave.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: It's always, always tiresome to me.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: What is your?
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: What is your favorite travel destination?
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: I'm from upstate New York.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: For folks that don't know, don't have a B.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I'm from upstate New York For folks that don't know, don't have to be too discovered.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: But Finger Lakes, new York.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: If you've ever been there, it's great, excellent.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: And is there a book that you read that you'd like to recommend to colleagues?
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I read Bob Iger's biography a few years back.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: He's the CEO, was the CEO and took a break, and now is the current CEO of Disney.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: It's called Ride a Lifetime.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: It's a really interesting book for those interested in Disney and hospitality Excellent.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: What profession under the one you currently have would you maybe like to try.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: I've always been curious about National Park Ranger.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Be outside every day in the parks would be kind of fun for me.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, who inspired you to be the person you are today?
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's gonna be cliche, but true, it's my mom, for sure.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: My parents.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: And who do you?
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Uh, what do you typically think about?
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Or when you wind down at the end of the day?
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Oh, uh, I just uh going outside.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: As I said, fresh air being outside, okay, and uh, last question what are one or two things on your travel bucket list?
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, long list, long list.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Uh, I have to choose, uh, african safari never done that, want to do that very badly as the kids get older.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, long list, long list.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I have to choose African Safari Never done that, want to do that very badly as the kids get older.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And Galapagos.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I want to go and see the finches.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: And you know what Charles Darwin saw?
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Darwin saw, yeah, okay, great.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Well, brad, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: It was a pleasure having you back on the podcast.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it and look forward to hearing more from you and the Hilton team, the Reindeer 24 and the 25.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: So, thank you, thanks, mark, for having me back.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it Absolutely.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: And thank you everyone else for taking the time to join us today.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Make sure you join us back again for another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series soon.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Until then, have a wonderful day.