One of the best things about the view from this corner of the world is that we get a front-row seat to some of the most creative and innovative ideas as they relate to customer service, customer experience and customer loyalty strategies.
By Mike Giambattista
To be sure, not all of them are homeruns but you have to admire the chutzpah. On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for failing fast – and even more to be said for the people whose innovations attain some level of success.
Case in point, this week, Choice Hotels announced “Choice Hotels Teams Up with delivery.com to Offer Delivery Services to Hotel Guests”.
Every once in a while someone comes up with an idea that causes a collective palm-to-forehead response because of its abject obviousness. “Why didn’t somebody think of this before?” Think, the Snuggie or the Slanket – both such completely obvious inventions that their inventors rightly deserve their Shopping Network millions. It strikes me that Choice Hotels has devised just such a winner here.
The new program effectively connects the nearly 1000 Choice Hotel properties across the United States with more than 12,000 local businesses that participate in Delivery.com’s on-demand marketplace.
From their presser:
“ … hotel guests can now enjoy the added convenience of delivery services from local restaurants directly to their hotel location, including nearly 1,000 Choice Hotels properties across the country and growing—while also earning Choice Privileges loyalty points. On-demand delivery from wine and spirits shops, grocery stores, and even laundry and dry cleaning is coming soon.”
To this idea, we say a hearty “Cheers!”
Sarah Searls, vice president of digital commerce for Choice Hotels, put it this way:
"The Choice mobile platform was expressly designed to bring this type of digitally-driven experience to life for guests," said "The integration of delivery.com into the recently enhanced Choice Hotels mobile app demonstrates how Choice constantly aims to help make travel easier and more rewarding. A digital 'concierge' service, such as this, is just one example."
The beauty of this idea goes beyond simply leveraging another batch of services into your loyalty app – the strategic synergies it presents are pointed directly toward frequent guests and their unique wants & needs.
Choice noted as well that their Choice Privileges loyalty rewards program was recently rated no.1 in the 2017 USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice Awards for a second straight year. With that kind of creative, strategic thinking behind the program, we can see why.
Mike Giambattista is Managing Editor at The Wise Marketer and is a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP).
