Top strategies for hotels to attract One Key members

The hotel industry spends a lot of effort and capital to attract profitable guests and create loyalty to a hotel brand. Some of these guests never become loyal. Could you be better off appealing to the frequent traveler's profile and optimizing your marketing spend? Hoteliers use rewards programs to attract the most desired guests: those who travel often and seek value and experiences. They enjoy your restaurants and service outlets. They prefer larger room types and luxury vacation rentals, and they know the care that goes into good service, so they treat your property and staff well.

With One Key — our rewards program that spans Expedia^®, Hotels.com^®, and Vrbo^® — you have an opportunity to target and attract the most valuable guests and entice a new type of guest: travelers who have earned OneKeyCash^™ by booking vacation rentals or transportation. As these travelers look for their next trip, you want to be well-positioned to attract the most profitable guests in our marketplace.

While you don’t have to take any additional action to benefit from One Key, there are several tactics and hotel marketing tools that our hotel partners can use to attract rewards members to your properties. Read on for three ways you can unlock more opportunity for your business.

You can attract valuable One Key members with Members Only Deals. With One Key, travelers are assigned to four different tiers, depending on their booking activity: Blue, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Annually, as travelers book more trip elements across our brands, they unlock the next tier — and more rewards. This results in a program that is simple, flexible, and more rewarding for you and your guests.

Our partners can use Members Only Deals to offer targeted, fenced price discounts for rewards program members. And now, Members Only Deals are more flexible than ever before. Instead of offering an overarching deal to all One Key members, you can now offer tailored and fenced deals to high-value members in different tiers who spend and book more. This enables you to create the offer that is right for your target traveler and right for you, allowing you to maximize returns.

Bonus: Unlike some other travel rewards programs that offer lifetime loyalty status, One Key assesses member eligibility annually, so you’re always targeting our most frequent travelers.

Create a Members Only Deal

Show off your exceptional guest experience and special perks by joining VIP Access, an exclusive collection of properties that spotlights only the very best properties to travelers shopping on our travel sites. 

Only properties that consistently deliver high-quality guest experiences and value to guests qualify to join the program. 

Participating properties have better visibility in search results and stand out to travelers with an exclusive VIP Access badge that lets travelers know your property provides exceptional service and special benefits for One Key members. One Key members know to look for VIP Access properties in the search results because they get perks and extra benefits at these properties — including up to 3x more Expedia Group funded OneKeyCash™ for higher tier members.

There are no fees to join VIP Access; however, hotel partners commit to offering Silver, Gold, and Platinum members special recognition at check-in, room upgrades when available, and exclusive property perks like free breakfast or spa credits.

Join VIP Access

If your property is not part of the VIP Access program, don't fret — you can still offer special perks to attract One Key members. Value Add promotions allow you to create unique travel offers — such as free parking or food and beverage credits — that display within your hotel property’s listing on our travel sites. These promotions help travelers clearly differentiate hotel offerings, so they can select the hotel and promotion that best meets their needs. According to our Traveler Value Index 2023, 33% of travelers said that a complimentary add-on is the most appealing deal when booking travel.*

Value Add promotions make it easy for you to stand out from the competition and provide memorable guest experiences without discounting rates or compromising on your pricing strategy. You have the flexibility and control to customize promotions by length of stay, redemption rules, and room type restrictions. Plus, you can set up your promotions to target all One Key rewards program members or only Silver tier and higher members.

Set up promotions

Through a strategic mix of fenced deals, promotions, and exclusive badging, our hotel partners can target and attract high-value One Key members in a way that works best for your revenue strategy. Discover more about One Key and visit Partner Central to implement these strategies and start attracting more travelers to your property.