Our Positioning

I Prefer celebrates the independent spirit of our travelers, unlocking a world of distinctive and authentic hotel experiences in destinations both familiar and yet-to-be-discovered.

Premise of our program

Our positioning reflects our unique value proposition – a shared mindset with travelers who value the spirit of independence, appreciate luxury and authenticity, and both seek out new experiences and enjoy returning to beloved destinations.

Unique and Distinct

Preferred Hotels & Resorts is a collection of unique and distinct properties around the world.

We embrace the individuality each of our properties displays and encourage them to retain those things that are different than everyone else.

While there are different collections of properties under the Preferred Hotels & Resorts umbrella, the one thing they all have in common is the I Prefer Rewards program.

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Unlocking Loyalty

In an era where our collection of hotels and the I Prefer Hotel Rewards Program holds unprecedented significance, we find ourselves presented with a substantial opportunity – one that we eagerly anticipate embracing collectively. 

The essential factor enabling us to capitalize on this opportunity lies in establishing meaningful connections that foster loyalty. While tangible rewards such as points, amenities, and upgrades play a role, they only take us part of the way. 

It is the creation of intangible elements like memorable moments, cherished memories, and a sincere sense of care and concern that will elevate members from mere enrollees to passionate advocates.

Four Key Drivers of Loyalty

There are four factors that drive loyalty with our guests. 

01. Product Quality & Consistency

Product Quality and Consistency is pretty straightforward, isn’t it?  Your property needs to provide the expected services and experience the guest is looking for.  A nice bed, great restaurants, and sometimes amenities like spa, golf or recreation.  

Having high-quality products and services has become the cost of entry necessary to compete. These products and services have to be perceived as valuable or value-added to our guests. Having innovative products and services helps to differentiate a brand from the competition.

Everything communicates. Everything sends a message of some sort, whether that message is good or bad. And when we lack consistency and quality, we end up communicating a message that we really don’t care.

Consistent doesn’t need to be cookie-cutter. We can provide freedom within a framework. And that framework is our brand. The freedom comes when we adjust our offerings and services based on the needs of the individual guest.

02. Executing Excellence

Executing Excellence throughout the entire experience simply means each step of the guest journey at your property needs to be on point.  We can’t have a great arrival process with a guest and then serve their dinner with spotted glassware and expect guest loyalty.  It’s the same with reward programs.  

Earning points for a guest’s stay and spend, receiving upgrades when available, and consistently earning their rewards, those are the basics required in all loyalty programs.

Traveling should be an adventure, not a pain. People like to travel. They don’t like the process of traveling, particularly in recent years with air travel security checks. Arriving at our hotels can be a starting point for enjoying the love and romance of travel.

The first and last impressions the guests receive are important. Our major opportunity to really inspire guest loyalty is at the beginning of the guest's stay.

If that first impression is great, then each interaction throughout their stay is an opportunity to prove that the first impression was correct and continue to build that loyalty. The last impression of the property is our opportunity to confirm that loyalty and thank the guest for giving us the chance to earn their trust.

Repeat Business

These first two drivers are expected at any property of any level in the hospitality business today.  They drive repeat business - meaning guests will choose your property if it’s convenient or makes sense for that specific stay. What truly drives loyalty are the next two items.  

03. Personalizing Services

Personalizing service to the individual guest and connecting emotionally to them will help make your guest choose your property every time it’s available to them, even if it might be less convenient. 

04. Connect Emotionally

Guests want to be seen and treated as individuals rather than room numbers. We must be certain that we do not treat them as just another guest.

“Every trip is different and I’m different on every trip.” Be careful not to dismiss someone as a business traveler or as some honeymoon couple. They vary from trip to trip and day to day.

Too often we fail to simply ask “How can we make your stay more enjoyable?” In asking, we identify opportunities to better personalize each guest's experience.

This is where I Prefer can stand out.

80% of how we experience the world is through emotion and only 20% is through intellect. And, unfortunately, emotional needs too often go unmet. Empathy is the key. Think about where they are coming from and what you can do to better meet their needs.

Guests see through the scripted and impersonal communication. Be careful to avoid “going through the motions.” Be certain you’ve really connected with every guest you meet.

Guests sincerely appreciate gestures that indicate a genuine interest. Taking five minutes to do something special for them may mean the difference – and create a guest for life.

Don't hesitate to embrace the role of a "Service Hero" and make a gesture on behalf of the hotel.

Customizing your I Prefer Welcome Amenity or Food & Beverage offering to our members and connecting with them as individuals and not simply a number can create the emotional connection that builds loyalty.

The Value of Our Members

So, who are our members, and why are they so valuable?

We currently have approximately 5 million members around the globe, with most residing in the Americas. 

We're focusing on expanding globally while observing a surge in international travel from the US simultaneously.

Member Profile

Member data shows that our I Prefer travelers are the guests you want – affluent, with incomes exceeding $250K and net worth over $1MM. 

Furthermore, they are motivated to spend on experiences such as food, wine, arts and culture.

Importance of loyalty

So why is loyalty so important?

Our I Prefer Members generate more REVENUE than non-members - they spend more and stay longer. 

They also book earlier and are less likely to cancel. In short, these are the guests you want on your books and in your hotel.

We also see a significant ADR premium among our guests with status, with members from our top published tier paying $530/night ADRs in 2023 YTD vs. non-members at $363. That’s an ADR premium of 46%!

Member Feedback

Our members understand and appreciate what we have to offer and feel there is value in our portfolio, offers, and redemption opportunities - value they are willing to pay for.  And, your property benefits from that appreciation.

"I Prefer has an excellent collection of premium hotels and resorts."

"It is a brilliant scheme and offers a wide range of hotels worldwide, with plenty of offers... what more could you ask for?"

"There are awesome hotels in your collection / membership. They are not the cookie-cutter chain with all the same hotels."

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I Prefer Vs. "Going it Alone"

Being part of I Prefer offers you benefits you simply could not achieve as an individual hotel or even a small hotel group.  

Let’s look at some of these benefits at a high level.

First, I Prefer provides a large customer database for you to target.

‍I Prefer also allows for marketing and promotion opportunities broader than on your own.

Quality & Scale

Being a part of I Prefer means you belong to a worldwide hotel portfolio. Consequently, members actively seek properties similar to yours!

Program Administration

You don’t have to facilitate the program on your own – we administer the program for you, provide the platform, support and training.

Let's take a closer look at each of these benefits.

Customer Database

Utilizing our customer database, we have the capability to directly engage and market to our 5 million members. 

This includes both email marketing and display media, allowing you to target a larger audience with a predisposition to book YOUR property.

Website

The I Prefer program funds marketing, public relations, promotions, and communication initiatives that attract members to your hotel.  This inspires travel, drives enrollments, and builds loyalty.

Cyclical Process

These components form a cyclical process. Inspiring travel initiates the journey, driving enrollment captures potential customers, and building loyalty ensures their continued engagement, fostering a long-term relationship that can lead to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.

We also know that travelers value quality, scale, and variety in a loyalty program – so the program has exponentially more value by offering 600+ hotels all around the world.

We fund full program administration, including costs of the loyalty tech stack, property support, training, and more.  

PreferredNet

PreferredNet is your source for all things Preferred, including I Prefer branding and implementation resources.  

Profectus

Profectus is the I Prefer system that houses our membership database.  Each hotel has dedicated access to Profectus.

The I Prefer Learning Platform is your on-demand training resource with a library of courses and resources.

Help Properties Make Money

As much as we love providing great value and variety to our guests, at the end of the day we are all here to make money. 

Loyalty programs help properties make more money in four different ways:

First, they provide access to profitable customers – qualified leads, who we know travel to properties like yours.

Second, they provide cost-effective marketing with a database of owned customers, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness at a network level.

Next, a competitive advantage. 

Being part of a loyalty program that members value enables your property to compete with other hotels in other programs or with hotels that don’t offer a program at all.

Finally, and we’ll go into this in the next lesson, being part of a loyalty program helps you capture booking conversions from Google and other generic meta searches.  Once the members are in the door the first time, a loyalty program can help keep them coming back time and time again. 

Where our Properties Play a Role

Our properties are instrumental in making I Prefer a success and fueling our future growth – resulting in more revenue to you.

We have identified four primary areas of concentration - Enrollments, Member Rate, Recognition, and Rewards.

Member Enrollments

The first area of concentration from properties is to support new member enrollments by including information and links to I Prefer on your property website, ensuring the I Prefer member rates are loaded and open, and training your teams to enroll new members on property.

During each guest interaction, extending I Prefer membership and selling its benefits is a win-win opportunity! 

Guests are motivated to join the I Prefer Program when they learn how they can personally benefit from it.

Four Quick and Easy Guest Enrollment Talking Points :

• Membership to I Prefer Hotel Rewards is free.
• Members receive instant benefits and are rewarded for stays at over 575 participating properties.
• Frequent travelers earn elevated status and benefits through membership.
• Points can be redeemed for free nights and Reward Certificates.

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Member Rates

Another way you play a role in delivering I Prefer is by providing exclusive member rates and offers – on Preferredhotels.com and on your property websites – providing that immediate gratification in the form of an offer they can’t get anywhere else.

Let’s look at what happens when a shopper clicks on hotels.com. They are taken to a page of results with MULTIPLE hotels – yes, yours is at the top, but it is quickly followed by competitors who might offer a lower rate, higher review rating, or both! 

The OTA has taken your booking and put them back into the shopping process all over again. So, when you consider your costs for OTA bookings – consider all the bookings you have LOST because the OTA is marketing your competitor right alongside you – from YOUR link!

In the above image, you are seeing metasearch results in Google from a real property. As you can see, the major OTAs are all offering the unrestricted rate of $441 for this property. However, because this property is part of I Prefer and offers the I Prefer member rate, it shows up at $418 – and being rational, this traveler is highly likely to click through on the lower rate from a reputable site. When this traveler clicks on the Preferred Hotels link- they go RIGHT to your booking page – and you capture the conversion!

Recognition

The Recognition component assures the member that we appreciate them for choosing an I Prefer Hotel and we deliver consistent member benefits during each stay.

This is where the rubber hits the road. Welcoming the member by name, thanking them for their loyalty, and ensuring your team is trained and delivering the benefits. Just like any other program, we have made our members a promise and rely on our hotels to deliver on that promise.  This is what drives loyalty when done correctly.

As a standard benefit, I Prefer Members receive special amenities during their stay.

These amenities offer your property the chance to showcase your independent brand and local specialties. 

The Gold & Titanium welcome amenity must have a high perceived value AND the amenity should be unique to relevant I Prefer Members only and not a complimentary gift offered to all guests.

Rewards

In addition to the recognition piece, of course, it is a loyalty REWARDS program, the rewards are important! The Rewards component allows our members to earn points for every eligible stay booked at an I Prefer hotel.  Our standard point offering is 10 points per $1 USD in reservation revenue. Gold & Titanium Members receive bonus points during their stay.

These rewards turn into Reward Certificates and Reward Nights, again driving the I Prefer Member back to your hotel.

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What do Loyalty Members Want?

Loyalty members want VALUE from properties in exchange for their patronage, they want to be RECOGNIZED as different and special from other guests, AND they want REWARDS from giving us their business consistently over time.

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This is where you, our properties, come in.

When we recognize and reward our valued members, we foster lasting relationships that build loyalty to our participating properties and brands.

Recognition

The Recognition component assures the member that we appreciate them for choosing an I Prefer hotel, and we deliver consistent member benefits during each stay.

Rewards

The Rewards component allows our members to earn points for every eligible stay booked at an I Prefer hotel.

When it comes to the specific rewards our members receive for being part of the program, this list shows just how much they get!  

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From a practicality standpoint, most of these rewards don’t cost you a lot, and all of them give the opportunity to continue to drive ancillary revenue into your property.  

Silver Members

The base points for Silver Members is 10 points per $1 USD in reservations revenue.

Gold & Titanium Members

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Our Gold and Titanium Members will receive a Welcome Amenity.  

Creating thoughtful and memorable Welcome Amenities for members significantly enhances their experience and leaves a positive impression.

The earned points for Gold Members is 12 points per $1 USD in reservations revenue.

In addition to a Welcome Amenity, our top-tiered Titanium Members will receive a Food & Beverage offering.  

The earned points for Titanium Members is 15 points per $1 USD in reservations revenue.

Food & Beverage

Your Food & Beverage offering should aim to drive the member to spend additional revenue in your restaurant or bar.

Member Value Redemption

In our member survey, over 90% of members said Reward Nights (free nights) and Reward Nights Plus (cash and points) are highly valuable.

"Selection and quality of hotels on the scheme are excellent. Especially the options to use points for Reward Nights."

And, because cash & points has a fairly low number of points needed to redeem, 22% of our members ALREADY have enough points to access a reward.

This is a HUGE OPPORTUNITY. So let’s talk about why this is good for you and how even FREE nights help you make money.

In addition to Recognition and Rewards, pulling all of it together is member Redemption. I Prefer Members can redeem their earned points for:

• Reward Certificates - Starting at 12,500 points, the most flexible member redemption offering turns points into a cash value certificate which can be applied directly toward room charges at any I Prefer participating property.  Reward Certificates may be gifted to friends or family, including those not already members.
• Reward Nights - Starting at just 15,000 points, members can turn their points into an extraordinary travel experience when redeemed for free nights at participating properties around the world.
• Reward Nights Plus - Starting at 3,000 points, members can go further faster with exclusive hotel rates using a combination of points plus cash.

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Rewards Nights

Under Rewards Nights, members redeem points for a free night, and your hotel is reimbursed a fixed amount, based on your ADR, meant to cover your turnover costs.

For a room that would be sitting open anyway – you are at least getting cash in. But the truth is that this guest is likely to add on more nights at BAR, spend on Spa, Golf, or F&B – the longer they stay, the more money you make.

This rate is fully yieldable, so you can close it out when you expect to sell out and use it to fill rooms when you have them open and need the business.

Even better is Rewards Nights Plus – when you receive 70% of BAR from the member in cash, PLUS payment from I Prefer that works out to an average of another 10% - so on average, you receive 80% of BAR. Again, you benefit from ancillary spend and add-on nights, and again, it’s fully yieldable.

These programs are critical to giving our guests the value of membership.  They are also a great tool to maximize and drive occupancy during need times for your property.

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Brand Standards

Integrated Quality Assurance (IQA) is a custom-designed quality measurement program that assures guest satisfaction and measures compliance with Preferred brand standards.

Preferred Hotels utilizes two measurement tools for a complete picture of property quality and reputation:

• Professional on-site “mystery shop” evaluations against a comprehensive set of collection-specific criteria.
• Customized online reputation (guest feedback) management tool available 24/7 powered by ReviewPro.

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Hotels can download a copy of the annual I Prefer criteria from PreferredNet.net. One criteria item is that all hotels must have the I Prefer desk sign visible at the Front Desk, in the lobby, or at their concierge desk.

Resources & Tools

PreferredNet.net has an I Prefer section dedicated to giving you implementation tools, training information, branding guides and more, right at your fingertips.

‍This concludes the course.....let's move to the quiz!

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