Why Collaboration Is Essential For Independent Hotel Brands

Skift Take

Chris Hartley and Kristi Gole of Global Hotel Alliance took the stage at Skift Global Forum to discuss how collaborating with other independent hotels increases small brands’ access to customers, technology solutions, and loyalty benefits, all without sacrificing their individuality.

Global Hotel Alliance

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

When Global Hotel Alliance was founded in 2004, the travel industry looked vastly different than it does today. Back then, many independent hotel brands actively avoided being subsumed into sprawling brand families. After investing heavily in crafting their own unique identities, losing that distinction to become part of a corporate brand (and gain access to corporate resources) didn’t seem like a worthwhile trade.

Global Hotel Alliance was born in 2004 when Kempinski Hotels, previously owned by Lufthansa, became one of four founding members, who were seeking other independent brands to pool their resources while still maintaining their individuality. Twenty years after its founding, Global Hotel Alliance boasts more than 40 brands and 800 hotels in over 100 countries worldwide. “The idea was that we could collaborate and resist the need to sell out to a bigger chain,” said Chris Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance, at the Skift Global Forum. “The airlines had created Star Alliance and One World Alliance, and we saw that as an aspirational business model.”

This September, Hartley and Kristi Gole, executive vice president of strategy at Global Hotel Alliance and 2024 Skift IDEA Awards Rising Star, joined Skift President Carolyn Kremins on stage in New York to discuss how Global Hotel Alliance helps independent hotels collaborate to compete against travel industry giants.

Using a Unified Rewards Currency to Anchor Multi-Brand Loyalty

As loyalty becomes a more pressing priority for hotel brands of all sizes, Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is particularly appealing to independents struggling with the limitations of their own audiences. Upon joining GHA, independent brands instantly gain access to millions of active GHA Discovery members, driving $2.7 billion to GHA hotels this year. 

Instead of forcing disparate programs to merge into one Frankensteined travel monster, GHA Discovery connects all 40 distinct brands with an overarching loyalty program. No matter where they book, GHA Discovery members use a single membership number and, more importantly, a unified rewards currency: Discovery Dollars.

“We asked our customers, and they actually didn’t want another points program,” Gole told the Skift Global Forum audience. “They wanted something more straightforward, less complex, less diluted.” 

Under GHA Discovery, each brand maintains its distinct identity, but members can use Discovery Dollars like cash in any GHA-affiliated hotel. The program is simple: One Discovery Dollar equals one U.S. dollar. Members can spend as many or as few Discovery Dollars as they want. When Kremins asked about the innovative program, Gole explained: “You don’t have to save up for a free night or some high points threshold. You’ve got 10 Discovery Dollars in your digital wallet? Spend it on your bill.”

The currency launched in late 2021, and there are now 100 million Discovery Dollars currently in circulation, creating significant benefits for GHA hotels and members. Members aren’t just spending their Discovery Dollars on repeat stays — they’re also spending up to 10 times more in cash than the redemption amount. “The ROI on that is significant,” Gole said on stage in New York. “Our loyalty members contribute 30 to 50 percent of occupancy at our hotels, and that’s all booked on eligible channels, which are the most profitable.”

Pooling Resources to Compete with Industry Giants

Helping independent hotel brands compete with industry giants has always been part of Global Hotel Alliance’s core mission. For example, the benefits of the alliance were visible when Minor Hotel Group, one of the four major shareholders in GHA (alongside Kempinski, Pan Pacific, and Corinthia), acquired NH Hotels about five years ago. By integrating its NH Rewards loyalty program into GHA Discovery, all 10 million of its existing members were immediately recognized at any hotel on the platform. 

“That’s created a more satisfied NH customer because they’re able to earn Discovery Dollars in Spain or Italy but spend them in the Maldives, Thailand, or Dubai,” Hartley said. The converse effect is true as well: All other GHA brands and hotels gained access to 10 million new members as part of their core customer base.

This collective customer access also adds the benefit of reducing cost of acquisition and cost of sale, which is a boon for independent hotels that struggle to gain market share and resort to expensive channels like OTAs. OTA commissions might be a drop in the bucket for larger hotel companies that can negotiate at scale, but for an independent hotel facing up to 25 percent commissions, those costs add up too quickly. 

Leveraging Technology to Unite Distinct Independent Brands

Technology is key to Global Hotel Alliance’s ability to support independent hotel brands. Without sufficient infrastructure, smaller companies cannot compete with the industry’s major players. 

“For small independent brands, technology is both very complex and very essential,” Hartley said at the Skift event. “The big [brands] are very good at centralizing all of that technology, but for smaller players, it’s very complicated and very expensive. So managing that at a central level across the Alliance is something that has helped enormously.” 

Through its partnership with Oracle and leveraging the OPERA Cloud platform, Global Hotel Alliance offers independent brands access to technology solutions that would otherwise have been prohibitively expensive. Integrating data from the GHA Discovery program throughout the guests’ entire stay makes it possible for small independent hotels to communicate directly and personally across the customer journey. It also helps independent brands keep customers engaged, driving incremental stays through direct — and more profitable — channels.

“If they’re a Kempinski customer booking an Anantara hotel, they’re going to get recognized the same way,” Hartley said. “Technology plays a huge part in the success of the Alliance, both in terms of driving down costs and from a customer experience point of view.”

The Power of Collaboration for Independent Hotel Brands

As independent hotel brands seek out the most cost-effective ways to connect with consumers, Global Hotel Alliance empowers them to achieve scale and reach through collaboration. Coordinated marketing efforts like targeted advertising capabilities, a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system, a dedicated website, app, and social presence form a strong foundation. And the ability to cross-promote and amplify a huge network of brands unlocks next-level mutual benefits.

“Kempinski doesn’t have a hotel in London, but if you go to their website, you can book Corinthia London, Hotel Cafe Royal, or The Marylebone,” Gole explained at the event. “For an independent hotel brand to have the distribution of 40 other websites through this program, on top of what we’re doing for them, is very impactful.”

This content was created collaboratively by Global Hotel Alliance and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.