Integrating Technology in Hotel Loyalty Programs

Boom is a two-year-old AI-powered hospitality management platform whose latest funding round is a shot across the bow for every CXM platform with a foot in hospitality. The Bay Area-based company just raised $12.7 million to weave AI into the operational fabric of hotels. If you recall, Medallia started with Hilton as its first customer, so this is a particularly interesting story to follow. Boom isn't offering a chatbot in the lobby. On the contrary, they're promising conversational AI, hyper‑personalization, and predictive analytics that can learn, adapt, and autonomously manage complex tasks. Why does this matter for Qualtrics, Medallia, Sprinklr, and every other CXM vendor with hospitality clients? Because the data plumbing and decision‑making layers are moving deeper into the hotel. They're not going to live on a dashboard or inside a GenAI capability that a hotel manager uses to automatically generate a response to a low-NPS guest. This stuff will go by the way of the dodo bird. Imagine what this could look like: At Hilton, their Watson‑powered concierge “Connie” (now nearly 10 years old) answers questions about amenities and local restaurants. With Boom's AI capability, Connie could remember your running route from your last stay, pre-book your gym slot, and push a personalized offer through your loyalty app before you even unpack. Marriott Hotels has tested in‑room voice assistants that let guests control lighting and temperature. Layer predictive analytics on top, and the system could anticipate when you typically request room service, ask if you’d like your favorite snack delivered, and feed that behavior back into Qualtrics or Medallia for real‑time NPS tracking if you're into that sort of thing. Here’s how hospitality brands can turn this technology into magic: Connect your feedback loop. Integrate AI‑driven interactions with your CXM platform so every guest preference and sentiment automatically informs product and service tweaks. Train employees to be AI translators. Your staff should know how to interpret AI signals and add the human touch, whether it’s a concierge upselling a spa package or a manager smoothing out a glitch. Pilot, then scale. Start with a single property or service (e.g., check‑in) and use tiger teams to refine the experience before rolling it out chain‑wide. Frankly, I think Boom is ripe for a CXM provider looking for a nice tuck-in acquisition to boost their action-focused future and valuation. Because the future is not about delivering thermometers. The future is about enabling action at scale. Boom’s vision hints at a future where hotel stays feel bespoke at scale. If you were running Hilton or Marriott’s CX program, what’s one AI‑driven experience you’d implement tomorrow? #customerexperience #hospitality #ai #futureofwork #cxm #saas

Accor just made a move that should scare every hotelier who still thinks “AI = chatbot on the website”. Accor launched the ALL Accor experience inside ChatGPT, so travelers can search hotels in natural language, see public + loyalty-member rates, and then get redirected to Accor’s booking flow to complete the reservation. Alix Boulnois, Accor’s Chief Business, Digital & Tech Officer, framed this as a “pivotal moment” for how people will discover and book travel. That’s not PR fluff. That’s a distribution strategy. Because the real story isn’t “wow, cool feature”… it’s this: The hotel website is no longer the start of the journey The start is becoming: one prompt. And the hotels that win will be the ones that can answer instantly: “I’m landing at 07:30, can I early check-in?” “Spa slot tomorrow at 17:00?” “Airport transfer + baby cot + late checkout?” “Show me options near X, with Y, under Z.” Accor is betting the battle moves from ranking on Google → to being the best answer in AI chat. Why this is a big deal (even if bookings still happen on Accor.com) Because discovery is the choke point. If guests shortlist you inside AI: - you capture intent before OTAs and metasearch - you pull loyalty into the conversation earlier - you reduce friction to “book now” - you increase visibility where the next generation actually plans trips My hot take In 12–24 months, “we have an omnichannel inbox” will be table stakes. The differentiator will be: who runs the best AI-native guest journey: pre-stay personalization instant ops answers upsells at the right moment consistent brand tone zero friction handoffs to booking + staff

Every hospitality brand I meet thinks they need more tech. They actually need less...but smarter 🧠 Been spending time with restaurant and hotel operators lately. The pattern is clear: They're not suffering from a lack of data. They're drowning in it. The real challenge isn't capturing first-party data. It's knowing which data matters for building lifetime guest value and efficiently connecting it. Here's what separates the winners from everyone else: They start with three simple questions: • What do we know about our guests today? • What should we know to serve them better tomorrow? • How do we connect those dots without adding complexity? The best operators are ruthless about integration priorities. They're not chasing every shiny new platform. They're building thoughtful tech stacks that turn moments into memories - and memories into loyalty. Take our recent work with hospitality brands at Klaviyo. The magic happens when you connect the right systems at the right touchpoints: -PMS data tells you when they stayed and what they spent. -Dining data shows their preferences and occasions. -Engagement data reveals what actually drives them back. Stack these insights together, and suddenly you're not just sending emails. You're creating experiences that feel personal because they are personal. One hotel partner told me: "We stopped thinking about systems and started thinking about stories. Every guest has one. Our job is to remember it." That shift, from data collection to relationship cultivation, changes everything 📈 The platforms charging you commission fees hope you never figure this out ‼️ But forward-thinking brands already have. Your guests aren't looking for another app or loyalty program. They're looking for you to know them. And with the right approach to first-party data, you can. Ready to turn your guest data into lasting relationships? Let's explore what's possible when technology serves hospitality, not the other way around. #hospitalitytech #restaurantmarketing #hoteltech #guestexperience #firstpartydata

Technology has become one of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts' most important commercial levers. Scott Strickland, the company's Chief Commercial Officer and former CIO, now leads IT, digital, loyalty, marketing, and communications. That breadth reflects a belief that scale in hospitality is no longer just about rooms and brands, but about the digital platforms that connect guests and franchisees alike. "It's not just a matter of the technology being foundational," he told me. "There's actually been synergies in here that we've seen beyond the cost level." It speaks to how loyalty, marketing, and property technology are no longer parallel tracks but interdependent engines of growth. In our conversation, Scott described: â–º How Wyndham Gateway turns something as simple as Wi-Fi into a loyalty and marketing platform. â–º Why AI-enabled guest engagement in 100+ languages has changed the economics of customer service. â–º How advisory councils of franchisees co-design digital solutions to ensure alignment at the property level. â–º This is what leadership looks like when a technology executive steps fully into the commercial arena. Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/ejgHFhaS #Technovation #Wyndham #hospitality #digital #CIO

The Future of Loyalty + Payments is Being Rewritten by AI #LoyaltyPlusPayments Over the last few months, I’ve been diving deep into how AI is transforming the convergence of loyalty and payments and the shift is nothing short of game-changing. What excites me most is how personalization and real-time engagement are now possible at a scale we’ve never seen before. 💡 Imagine this: A. Your wallet “knows” your coffee habits and sends you a reward just when you’re passing your favourite café. B. You use those points instantly , no expiry worries, no complex redemption rules. C. The same wallet nudges you with a flight upgrade offer the moment you search for travel, with points + payment blended seamlessly. This isn’t just future talk, the real-time earning and burning is already here. AI is helping loyalty programs predict behaviour, identify micro-moments, and serve hyper-relevant offers. Some compelling numbers: 1. McKinsey reports that AI-driven personalization can lift revenue by up to 15% and improve customer satisfaction scores by 20%. 2. Programs using AI for rewards targeting see 3-5x higher redemption rates compared to static campaigns. What makes this convergence powerful is freedom to the members as they control how and when to use value, and brands gain a deeper, richer view of customer intent through integrated payment data. At Beyondperks, we see this as the golden intersection: AI + Loyalty + Payments = Profitable, long-term customer relationships. I’d love to hear from my network on what’s the best AI-powered personalization you’ve experienced in a loyalty program? #LoyaltyPlusPayments #AI #CustomerEngagement #DigitalWallets #Personalization

How can independent hotels win the battle for direct bookings? Recently, Revfine asked its panel of digital marketing experts to comment on a topic that has been an ongoing discussion in the hospitality industry for decades: Independent hotels face strong competition for direct bookings in an OTA-dominated market. What strategies can they use to convert guests through their own channel? Here is my take: Independent hotels can win the battle for direct bookings only if the invest adequately in technology, marketing and talent. Today it is 15-20 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than retain past customers. Unlike potential guests, past guests already know your property, your product and location, all you need to convince them is that your property’s value proposition hasn’t changed. Yet, on average, repeat business at independent hotels is less than 10% on any given night. In 2026, success in bringing repeat business will likely make or break any property. How do you increase your repeat business? By implementing a)CRM technology and b) Reward Program/Guest Appreciation Program. Naturally, in addition to providing impeccable service, above and beyond customer expectations. Only a meaningful CRM technology - as part of your hotel tech stack - can ensure deep engagement with your past and future guests and significantly increase your repeat business. CRM tech not only provides automated pre-, during- and post-stay communications, guest satisfaction surveys, guest retention marketing automation and drip marketing campaigns, but takes it a step further via guest recognition program management and loyalty marketing. All of these fully automated CRM initiatives keep “the conversation going” with your upcoming and past guests, keeps them engaged and steers them in the right direction: to book your hotel when it’s time for them to visit your destination again. In addition, you can use your CRM first party data about your best guests to launch similar audiences marketing on Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc. to target potential customers with similar characteristics as your best guests. Why people like buying known things or from known brands? Because of the known value proposition, whether this is Apple products or a hotel. Not many repeat visitors to any destination would like to experiment with a new hotel. If your property has done a good job with your guests, if you keep them engaged after they have left, then they will come back. As for reward or guest appreciation program, for independent hotels, midsize and smaller hotel groups it should be based on perks like early check-in, amenities like free breakfast or free upgrades or based on free roomnights when a certain threshold of stayed nights is achieved. The key here is to implement a program that is easier to implement and manage, and easier to understand and be appreciated by travelers.