In 2024, the charges a resort proprietor paid to help their model’s visitor loyalty program continued to develop at a comparatively robust fee. Through the 12 months, the annual development of visitor loyalty program charges exceeded the will increase in model royalty funds, in addition to the model advertising and reservation assessments. Additional, the tempo of development for visitor loyalty program charges was better than the will increase in each rooms occupied and rooms income, two components that affect the visitor loyalty program charges charged to lodges.
Happily for homeowners, resort loyalty applications have continued to show their worth. Loyalty applications are rising their memberships and contributing more and more extra to the variety of paid occupied room nights.
The Price for Homeowners
To grasp how visitor loyalty program charges moved in 2024, CBRE analyzed the loyalty program charge funds made by 4,187 U.S. lodges in our Tendencies® within the Lodge Trade database from 2023 to 2024. In 2024, these lodges averaged 218 rooms and achieved a 70.2 p.c occupancy with a $214.89 ADR.
For our Tendencies® survey, CBRE captures three totally different franchise-related charges on a discrete foundation.
- Royalty Charges
- Advertising and Reservation Charges
- Visitor Loyalty Program Charges
From 2023 to 2024, the three.9% enhance in loyalty charges was the best among the many three elements. Additional, the three.9% development fee was better than the will increase in rooms occupied (1.3%) and rooms income (2.7%). This sample was constant throughout the 4 highest-priced chain-scales, the segments that profit most from visitor loyalty program members. Since visitor loyalty program charges are partially primarily based on the variety of loyalty program members paying to remain at a resort, charge development that’s better than the rise in rooms occupied implies that loyalty program members made up a bigger share of rooms occupied in 2024 in comparison with 2023.
In 2024, loyalty program charges averaged 2.2% of rooms income and have been highest at upper-upscale lodges. Properties that function on this section seize each company and group vacationers, two sorts of frequent vacationers that recognize the advantages of the loyalty applications. Conversely, the loyalty program charge to income ratio is lowest at midscale and financial system lodges, the place visitors are much less prone to be loyalty membership members.
Visitor loyalty program charges measured as a proportion of rooms income have been better at smooth model lodges in comparison with core model lodges. This means that loyalty program members are snug reserving rooms past the first manufacturers throughout the main chains. That is excellent news for homeowners that choose to affiliate with a smooth model reasonably than the core manufacturers.
Advantages to Homeowners
Sturdy loyalty applications assist resort manufacturers decrease buyer acquisition prices, enhance direct-to-consumer entry, and offset occupancy shortfalls throughout shoulder intervals and weaker financial circumstances. Analyzing accessible knowledge for the loyalty applications of 5 public c-corporation resort corporations[1], CBRE discovered that complete loyalty membership grew by 14.5% in 2024 to greater than 676 million, outpacing room development of 6.7%. Since 2014, members per accessible room have greater than doubled, growing from 62 to 137, and rising over 7% year-over-year in 2024 from 128.
Loyalty member contribution to occupancy has been on the rise for the reason that pandemic. In 2024, the typical member contribution to occupancy rose two proportion factors to 52.8% year-over-year. Loyalty applications offered 12% extra room nights in 2024 in comparison with 2023, though the typical room nights per member declined by 4% to 1.0 from 1.1, nonetheless under the current peak of 1.8 in 2016. This dynamic means that members are both inactive, collaborating in a number of loyalty applications, touring occasionally or accumulating factors by means of bank card and affiliate partnerships as a substitute of by means of frequent resort stays.
With the proliferation of rare visitors all through the membership base, manufacturers are tasked with turning one-time visitors into extra frequent, greater worth members. In an effort, partly, to have interaction the rising membership base, main model households have doubled their model portfolios since 2014 to a median of twenty-four manufacturers every in 2024. Loyalty program membership has elevated at a 15% compound annual development fee over the identical interval. Newer manufacturers have been added, together with the addition of soppy model collections, in addition to much less typical choices like glamping and all-inclusive resorts. By enhancing their model eco-system, model households hope to draw new prospects and to offer their growing membership base with much less conventional choices and experiences the place they’ll redeem their factors.
Primarily based on 2024 knowledge, members are utilizing their factors sooner than they’re incomes them, with the loyalty level legal responsibility per member falling 5.3% year-over-year. Inns ought to give attention to maximizing redemptions that fill much less fashionable shoulder seasons and drive ancillary income by means of incentives like meals and beverage credit, spa perks and unique experiences.
Loyalty Program Price Transparency
Apart from the visitor loyalty program charges, resort homeowners are additionally answerable for paying for the additional facilities and providers offered to loyalty program members throughout their stays. Such prices could embrace complimentary meals and beverage, upgraded rooms and housekeeping providers, factors offered as compensation for service failures, and entry to an unique govt lounge.
To supply resort homeowners and operators with better insights into these prices, the 12th version of USALI contains new loyalty program expense classes throughout the rooms, administrative and normal, and gross sales and advertising departments. CBRE will start to benchmark these extra prices in 2026 as the brand new USALI is adopted by the business.
Rachael Rothman ISHC is Head of CBRE Inns Analysis and Knowledge Analytics. Robert Mandelbaum is Analysis Director for CBRE Inns Analysis. Christine Bang is Affiliate Director for CBRE Inns Analysis. To benchmark your resort’s visitor loyalty program charges, please go to pip.cbrehotels.com/benchmarker. This text was printed within the September 2025 version of Lodging.
[1] Lodge model households embrace Alternative, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Wyndham.