The Problem to Solve
Customers aren't staying loyal to the IHG brand.
1. IHG needs its customers to book directly through their site to maximize revenue. Customers will book where they are most incentivized to go. Loyalty programs and gamification offer great motivation to be a returning customer.
2. IHG needs to retain its customers. Customers will purchase hotels based on need, price, and location. Loyalty programs can provide discounts and priority over non-member customers.
So how do we fix that?
Research
Interviewing IHG Employees
Multiple employees discussed the limits and challenges when designing and implementing IHG’s current loyalty program. Because IHG’s 16+ brands and even their individual hotels operate as separate businesses, creating a loyalty solution that worked for all of them was nearly impossible. Booking on the IHG website is the only part of the process they control, which is why many of the current loyalty touch points occur during booking.
Target Audience Survey
Next, we dove into the customer base to understand travel habits, how people felt about hotel loyalty, and major pain points within the hotel industry. To do so, we conducted a survey of almost 300 people.
Demographics
3 Key Insights
46% do not think they travel enough to reap the benefits of a hotel loyalty program
40% ranked hotel loyalty in their Top 3 Priorities when booking a trip
52% said the ability to save money through loyalty strongly impacts their final booking decision
Competitive & Comparative Analysis
We conducted a competitive and comparative analysis against IHG's largest competitors and against top loyalty programs.
Competitive Analysis
The competitive analysis reviewed top competitors Marriott, Hilton, and AirBNB. Hyatt was notably excluded because they did not offer a comparable service at the time of this study. IHG was lacking in areas such as brand awareness, indispensability, and experience management.
Comparative Analysis
The comparative analysis looked at brands with loyalty programs or booking processes. By looking across industries including restaurants, airlines, and theme parks, we identified loyalty tactics including gamification and dollar value transparency that could be helpful in the hotel industry.
Gamification
Gamification is the use of game mechanics, elements, and designs in a non-game context to encourage users to complete tasks that are not game related. Game mechanics can include: badges, points, levels, prizes, bonuses, rewards, leader boards, customization, and progress graphs.
Gamification can have many forms in UX Design, but generally, it is the use of game mechanics in design to engage users in a satisfying, efficient, intuitive, and memorable experience. It incentivizes customers to enjoy product experiences repeatedly, increasing customer retention and customer spend.
Key Insights
Customers value transparency.
The value of the IHG loyalty program is not transparent enough for customers to understand the value.
It takes too long to earn anything.
Acquiring points takes too long and the rewards feel unattainable for average travelers.
Solution Criteria
1. Make earning and using points easier.
Make it more achievable and engaging so guests prioritize hotel loyalty and do not feel discouraged by unachievable expectations.
2. Increase loyalty touch points.
Encourage more frequent use of loyalty by increasing loyalty touch points throughout the user’s journey.
3. Build trust.
Make loyalty a top priority by showing guests the full value of loyalty points and the best way to use them to the benefit of the customer.
Design
Quick Challenges
Our first proposal is to introduce quick challenges. These are one-and-done tasks for users to complete and instantly earn points. This is a great way to encourage users to engage with new parts of the brand.
Milestone Challenges
Our next proposal builds off of the quick challenges. Milestone challenges are multi-step tasks for users to complete. This encourages users to stay more and spend more with the promise of extra rewards points at the end.
Membership Tiers
Loyalty members can gain elevated tier experiences by points earned and nights stayed but it is not displayed in an easily consumable way, so we wanted to cut down on the user's cognitive load.
Available Points
Lifetime points reflected in tier statuses may differ from points available for redemption if the user has already redeemed some or all of their points for rewards. This difference needs to be displayed.
