Global Hotel Alliance Announces 2017 Results

Global Hotel Alliance (“GHA”), the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands and operator of the award-winning, multi-brand loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, today revealed its 2017 results.

Overall room-revenue produced by the DISCOVERY loyalty programme members increased 9% to US$1.51 billion, of which cross-brand revenue (i.e. revenue produced by members who enrolled at one brand and then stayed at another) grew 21% to exceed US$100 million for the first time. In the best performing hotels, the DISCOVERY programme is now producing more than half of total room-nights sold and adding up to 7% in incremental occupancy from cross-brand customers. Over half a million cross-brand room-nights were generated in total.

The rise in revenues was driven largely by a further 25% growth in DISCOVERY membership, which reached 11.3 million members by the end of 2017. Over 5 million members reside in North America, but there was notable growth in Asia to 1.8 million, Europe to 1.9 million and a surge in membership in Australia and New Zealand, to over one million members.

Elite tier customers (DISCOVERY Black- and Platinum-level members) represent only 3% of the database, but in 2017 produced 28% of revenues or over US$400 million.

GHA’s CEO, Chris Hartley believes these results show the value of the alliance model: “The performance of the DISCOVERY programme in 2017 clearly demonstrates once again how the power of collaboration helps maintain a healthy independent sector, as our smaller hotel brands challenge the might of the ever-consolidating mega-groups and OTAs. Consolidating member data from more than 35 brands in the alliance and a powerful CRM, means that our member brands can reach more customers at a far lower cost of distribution than they can alone.”

In terms of channel, more DISCOVERY members booked direct than ever before with a 62% growth in revenue booked on discoveryloyalty.com, and the DISCOVERY app’s first full year saw over U$4 million worth of bookings. DISCOVERY members who booked direct did so at a rate premium of 48% over the average DISCOVERY rate, which was despite DISCOVERY launching a 10% direct booking discount in 2017 in most of its 500 hotels.

Local Experiences, DISCOVERY’s innovative rewards, which are curated by each hotel to offer members a taste of local traditions and culture, are now more widely embraced by members than ever before. 2017 saw a 52% growth in Black- and a 36% growth in Platinum-level Local Experience redemptions respectively.

In terms of destination performance, the highest growth of cross-brand (incremental) bookings was into Australia, growing an impressive 38%, with the United States up 13% and Singapore up 11%. In terms of cities, Australia again led the way with cross-brand bookings up highest in Melbourne (+11%), and Sydney (+10%), while London saw good growth (+8%), as did Bangkok (+6%).

And finally, the three most popular hotels booked on the DISCOVERY website in 2017 were Pan Pacific Singapore, Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski in Munich and Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu.

Editor’s Notes:

About Global Hotel Alliance

Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands, bringing together more than 35 brands with over 500 hotels in 78 countries. GHA uses a shared technology platform to drive incremental revenues and create cost savings for its member brands. GHA’s award-winning loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, provides 11 million members exclusive opportunities to immerse themselves in local culture wherever they travel. GHA’s hotel brands currently include: Alila, Anantara, Atura, AVANI, Corinthia, Discovery Destinations, Doyle, Elewana, Eventhouse, GLO, Kempinski, Leela, Lungarno, Marco Polo, Meritage, Meydan, Mokara, Mysk, Niccolo, NUO, Omni, Outrigger, Pan Pacific, PARKROYAL, QT, Rydges, Shaza, The Residence by Cenizaro, Thon, Tivoli, Ultratravel Collection and Viceroy. For more information, visit gha.com

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180219005371/en/