#163: Accor's Live Limitless Programme Focuses on Passion and Partnerships

Accor Live Limitless (ALL) is a loyalty programme that spans 51 brands and almost 7,000 hotels across different customer segments at different price points, yet who share common needs and passions.

With a vision to offer much more than simply a place to stay, ALL is focused on becoming a day to day companion for travellers as well as local communities, based on compelling partnerships and delighting each and every guest when they arrive in any Accor property.

Isabelle Birem is the Senior Vice-President Loyalty at Accor Group, and she joins me in today’s episode of “Let’s Talk Loyalty” to share the challenges and opportunities of driving loyalty at such scale globally, ensuring staff and owners understand the power of the loyalty programme to drive their businesses forward and deliver on the brand promise for every guest.

Isabelle shares the reasons behind their sports sponsorship with Paris St Germain and the “money can’t buy” experiences this creates, as well as the innovative “double-dip” partnerships launched with Air France / KLM and Qantas.

This episode is sponsored by Valuedynamx ( Part of Collinson Group)

Show Notes: 

1) Isabelle Birem Senior Vice-President Loyalty at Accor

2) Accor Live Limitless 

Audio Transcript

43:10

Welcome to “Let’s Talk Loyalty”, an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals. I’m your host, Paula Thomas, and if you work in loyalty marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas for loyalty specialists around the world. This episode is brought to you by Collinson, worldwide leaders in loyalty, creating and orchestrating loyalty initiatives and programs for some of the world’s biggest brands and travel retail and financial services. Doing it globally for over 30 years. Want to know more?
45s
1

Go to Collinson group.com. Hello and welcome to today’s episode of let’s talk loyalty, where I’m joined by Isabel BRM, the senior vice-president of loyalty at Accor hotels. Isabel joins me today to discuss all the acronym for a core live limitless, a global loyalty and lifestyle program for Accor hotels and partners worldwide. Isabel shares the latest approach to targeting customer passion points as well as airline partnerships, where members can double dip to earn both miles and points.
1m 26s
1

When they travel sheet also talks us through making a core live limitless or relevant brand in our everyday lives. So, Isabel, first and foremost, I’m so happy to welcome you to let’s talk Lloyd’s
1m 43s
2

Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Lawrence is my passion.
1m 47s
1

Oh, I could tell it’s wonderful. And I think I confess to you as well as a bell that I’ve done very little with hotels. And so it’s certainly about time with all the incredible work that our core is doing and that we get to showcase all of the incredible innovation and insights. So let’s kick off with our usual first question, Isabelle, please do tell me, what is your favorite loyalty statistic?
2m 11s
2

So my favorite loyalty statistic is summarized in a motto, which is burning drives earning. And what we see from our statistics is that when you take members or travelers with the same profile of stays, the same pattern of stays the same points balance on their account. You have 30% more revisit rates for those who have redeemed. And that’s the reason why we always engage, try to engage our members by pushing them to redeem because redeeming drives owning.
2m 47s
1

Wow, that’s incredible. Isabelle. How long have you known that? It’s I mean, I remember from looking at your profile, for example, you’ve I think 22 years, and you worked with the, with flying blue. So lots of incredible
3m 3s
2

It’s two years in the airline industry, two years with flying blue, but I learnt a lot as a matter of fact, that motto, I learnt it in flying blue and then nine years ago, our Corps hired me because of this loyalty knowledge in order to handle the program, which had been launched under it’s part of it’s core, it’s a actual setup, meaning multi-brand multi-country program. It hasn’t been launched only in 2008. So when I arrived in 2012, it was a very young program and, and I’ve been taking care of it since then.
3m 48s
2

And one of the things we demonstrated quickly after I arrived, because I knew it was one of the key elements to prove the, the value of the program is that redeeming drives zoning. Wonderful.
4m 3s
1

And what I also loved that you, you taught me Isabelle. The last time we spoke is such huge differences between the M the challenges, I guess, of running an airline loyalty program versus a hotel loyalty program.
4m 17s
2

It’s an airline loyalty program is pretty much centralized because an airline is centralized. All the decisions are made at head office and then rolled out in the hotel industry. It’s very different. We have owners and each potentially each hotel is its own decision maker because they are independent and they have, they manage their own P and L we have a B2B to C model, meaning that the money that builds the profit of our core comes first from the owners, not so much from the director consumer, from the end consumer, from the guests.
4m 59s
2

So we need absolutely to take this into account. And when it comes to managing a loyalty program in a hotel company, you need to permanently demonstrate the value of the program. You need to convince the owners to follow you in, in order to implement what you want to do. So it’s very different and it’s pretty challenging and pretty exciting too.
5m 22s
1

Yeah. And just forgive my naivety, Isabella just don’t know your industry. Do they have any option not to participate? So what are the, I guess the implications, if you know your amazing loyalty program, which I know you’ve got the analytics, as you said, you’ve proven that, you know, burning drives earning and, and all of the behaviors, but what happens if somebody’s not convinced as a hotel owner, for example? So
5m 49s
2

The loyalty program is mandatory. It’s really part of the hotel management agreements. And so it’s not an option. What happens is when we purchase a new brand, it can take time for all the past owners who have an HMA and maybe it’s a brand which does not have a loyalty program, then it can take time to onboard them all. But then for the new hotels opening under that brand, it is definitely mandatory. Okay.
6m 19s
1

Okay. But yes, I guess I’m the ultimate experience for the customer and relies on that hotel owner, understanding the power of what you’ve given him and actually, I guess, executing it at the time of check-in when the guest
6m 34s
2

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. We at centrally, we build the customer promise, but it’s true that those who make the program become alive are the hotel years, because I’m in the customer journey of a, of a guest of a hotel guests, the, the se is of utmost importance. And you can really magnify the experience during the state, as well as ruining it. If you don’t do what you need. So we really train, and sensibilize all our, our, our staff at hotel about the fact that loyalty is a question of trust.
7m 18s
2

This trust has to be built little by little time after time. And when trust is there, it’s fantastic, but it can be also, it’s very, it’s also a very fragile link. And all the challenge is to develop a team spirit and make them understand that they’re part of a network of 5,000 hotels, meaning that they are, they are, they will recruit four, potentially 4,099 hundreds, other hotels, but the others are also recruiting for them and pushing business for them.
7m 59s
2

So it’s just a question of collective game. Oh,
8m 2s
1

I love it. I love it. And you did send me through some fantastic statistics, Isabelle 300,000 staff, for example, across the whole Accor group and 69 million members. And I thought it was very interesting because it is, and particularly powerful, 43% of those are in Europe and followed by 26% of your members in Asia and 11% in north America. So, so it’s an incredible brand is wasn’t one. I was that familiar with, again in Dubai where I live and until in fact, about three weeks ago. And I think I mentioned to you that I was at the loyalty and awards conference. So we’ll give a shout out to the guys in global flight who did an incredible event for loyalty professionals.
8m 48s
1

And we stayed at an, a core hotel brand new one called the silver obelisk. And it’s an incredible presentation. So I’d love you to explain Isabel. And I suppose particularly what has happened with, you know, since 2012, as he said, you’ve been doing a huge amount of work. Sorry, did I get that to your rice? But how long have you been running the
9m 9s
2

Yes, yes, yes. 2012. So the program was born into in 2008, which was very, which is very late compared to our competitors because our competitors all launched their programs in the eighties or the nineties. Yes. So accord decided to launch it pretty late, but nevermind latest always. It’s always good. There’s some advantages. It was, it was first called a club. Then it was called the club echo hotels in 2012 because we wanted to support our distribution platform, which was a core hotels.com. And then in 2019, we decided to merge the distribution platform and the loyalty program and call it all a core level limitless and all a core level limitless was born in 2000, in December, 2019, with the intention to go to, to, to drive our, our members and our ambition beyond hospitality, beyond the pure stay at hotel, we are, our chairman has always had this vision of augmented hospitality, meaning we have some businesses which are adjustments to hotels, like concierge, really like a one fine stay, which is a private rental website with other adjustment business.
10m 38s
2

We have a company called Paris society, which has a lots of restaurants in Paris. And so, and our, our, our chairman always wanted to make of the, that the hotels become not only a place to stay for people who travel, but also a relevant place for the locals, for the people who live around the hotel and make that the hotels become a place for the locals together because they will go there to, to dine in our restaurants because they will go there to experience our spas or because they will go there because they can’t do home office at home and maybe they need, they can do a remote office from our hotels.
11m 22s
2

So what is giving all the meaning to the augmented hospitality is the loyalty program because it’s linking all those businesses togethers. And when you add to this, the partners that we are currently injecting into the program, we really want all a call live limitless to become a day to day companion. We have just launched all mobility, which is the possibility for our members to book. You know, like Uber, you know, I don’t know how you call
12m 3s
1

Them mirrors and bikes
12m 5s
2

And bikes and taxis and cars and all this through all app or through all.com. And obviously you can read, earn, earn all points. You can redeem all points. And this is a way of making our loyalty program become a day to day companion through the injection of new partners. And there will be a lot happening in the coming months in that area.
12m 34s
1

Yeah, I can imagine. And I think the first stroke of genuinely genius is what you mentioned literally there, Isabel about combining the, the distribution platform. So the, the transactional side of the business with the loyalty side, I think so many times over the years, there are legacy systems which are very separate and very complex and just mean you don’t have one single customer view. So the fact that you’ve managed to combine them and I believe they were combined and relaunched essentially in 2020, if I’m correct, as you said, literally probably the most difficult year ever to, to try and launch something like that. But even to get a three letter domain, the word old.com, I mean that itself is a stroke of marketing genius, huh?
13m 21s
2

Yes, yes. I didn’t take directly in that part, but yes, it was tough because it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a very common name. You can, but you can play a lot around it. And obviously one of our goal also was increased the awareness. You have a loyalty program, and this is what we did with very strong partnerships that we, that we have been developing. Obviously we are the sponsors, a Jersey sponsor of the main French soccer team. Patty Sasha coma wonders has really increased the level of awareness of, of all now what we do, what we need to do.
14m 8s
2

And this also the insights have shown. What we need to do is link it’s more to the universe of other hotels and to our brands. So people understand that all is something about lifestyle, is something about experience. They do not link it yet enough to the hotels, and this is what we have been trying to do this year. And we’ll probably be going on doing it next year. Yeah.
14m 36s
1

Yeah. That’s a very important thing to mention. Absolutely. So I’m not a soccer fan. So again, I really hadn’t realized the sheer size of that sponsorship and to have a shirt, shirt sponsor for football team of that scale is
14m 51s
2

Absolutely extraordinary as you said, for the brand awareness. But I think what you’re doing is you’re tapping into all of the passions that you’re, you’re absolutely. Absolutely. Because when we launched all or before we launched it, we asked what were the passions of our, of our customers, because yeah, as I was saying, redeeming drives earning, but redeeming on hotel was not enough. And we really wanted to give the opportunities to stick to our members’ passions. So we made the survey and ask them about our passions and what came out was the 51% of them are passionate about gastronomy dining. 40% are passionate about entertainment and such the center are passionate about sports.
15m 35s
2

And so we decided inside our offer of redemption to build all sorts of experiences around those passions. So we are partners of the taste festivals, which happen in different areas of the world and where people can come and experience dining with chefs and all sorts of master classes, all around gastronomy. We are partners with a huge provider of entertainment. So we have several venues in the world where we have VIP lounges in order to host our guests.
16m 16s
2

So we have one in Paris, one in Hamburg, one in Sydney and one in London. And then we have the major sponsorship with in Europe. But in other regions of the world, our, our, our offices are also partners with major sports events over there, especially in Australia and the Asia Pacific. They have developed a lot of sponsorships with the Australian open, the Australian football league, Australian rugby league. Obviously, I dunno if I’m saying it correctly, by the way. And I apologize to the Australian listeners, maybe I’m not giving, naming those big organizations correctly, but the intention is there.
17m 6s
2

And, and so that’s, that’s what we aim at doing and everywhere in the world are in our local offices. Our countries, our teams have budgets in order to build experiences that are locally relevant for their members, because, you know, you know, a loyalty program is necessarily centrally managed, but when you are a worldwide brand, as we are, it needs to be locally relevant. And that’s why in India, we do propose to our members to attend cricket games, which have received would never happen in the south of Europe, for instance, or in, in, in Brazil, we always proposal members to use their points to attend the carnival carnival in Salvador, in Rio de Janeiro.
18m 1s
2

So we really want to make this program locally relevant
18m 5s
1

And highly aspirational. And, and again, way beyond the borders of just the hotel where the, the, you know, the stay in the property itself. And I really picked that up actually from seeing the presentation and also what I loved. And maybe again, I just haven’t paid attention, Isabel, but the fact that for example, you can earn the all points by dining in restaurants without needing to stay in the hotel, because it’s never occurred to me to go to a hotel restaurant and present that hotels, loyalty brands cards when I wasn’t actually staying there. I think that’s genius.
18m 40s
2

Well, I don’t know if it’s genius, but it’s a way of, of creating repeat business for our hotels, for restaurants and, and also enabling our members to collect more points. You know, we’ve have a lot of debates within our accord, especially when we started repositioning ourselves to high-end brands. And the first reaction of those high-end brands were of some of the managers of those high-end brands was I don’t believe in a points-based program or, or program is all about recognition and that’s recognition program I’m thinking about was providing free nights and free upgrades, free nights and free upgrades is, is a transactional it’s aspirational, but it is as transactional a reward as points that enable you to pay yourself for free nights or free upgrades.
19m 37s
2

So this debate about recognition program versus points-based program is totally outdated. In my, in my opinion points are just an enabler to, to open up a world of opportunities and a world of experiences that you or money can buy experiences that you just cannot could not afford. If you were not part of the loyalty program, including you could not afford it. Even if you were super rich, I’m just super wealthy. I’m just going to give you an example. The first time we built what we call it, limitless experience with the was for a champion league game.
20m 25s
2

He’s such a man was going to play against the rail Madrid in Spain. Oh cool. And so we propose this package where the member would onboard the plane with the players. Ooh, tender, you know, the training, attend the game and fly back in the plane with the players. Wow. And we, we thought, we said, it’s the first test. We’re going to put it with, we put it for 80,000 points and the member who purchased it, and this is something that you can’t buy with money because you need to be partner. Totally. And the member who purchased it was a Canadian based in Vancouver who flew at his expense from Vancouver to Paris to live this experience and then flew back.
21m 16s
2

Wow. And we were just amazed because it was all we had dreamt of. Yeah. It was bringing the, the global ness of all alive with the promise of the experience and the promise of a limitless lifestyle program.
21m 35s
1

My goodness. Wow. He must be one of your top members. Isabelle. That’s extraordinary. Yeah.
21m 41s
2

Yes he is. He has, well, he wasn’t, he was very loyal. He was a very loyal family president’s club member. And we were even more happier because I came from famil president’s club and he said, it’s just an amazing program. It’s, it’s amazing what you’re proposing. And we are currently, we are, we have currently an auction going on to repeat this for the 24th of November for a game that will happen in Manchester. Oh my goodness. The, the, the auction was be over now. I don’t know who won it. I don’t know how much points were spent.
22m 21s
2

Yeah. That’s the kind of exciting things that we can do with, with, with this kind of loyalty program,
22m 28s
1

For sure. And I think the auction format, Isabel is very much one that you at least get the gamification, I guess, for everybody who’s at least bidding, you know, to have the opportunity and to dress and to be inspired about the possibility of winning something like that.
22m 45s
2

Although we do not do everything on auction, we have one competitor who proposes experiences all based on auctions, but this is not our policy. Why? Because we want everyone to have the, the feeling that whatever their points balance, they can access those experiences. So we don’t, we do have experiences that are very affordable because we want everyone to think I too can be part of it, even if I’m not a super big spender. Yes, I can. I can be part of it.
23m 23s
1

Yeah. And you shared a gorgeous insights with me, as well as Ebell, which I’d love if you share with the audience, which was around the M the, I suppose, behavior of redeemers. And this was back to your point about possible concerns from hotel owners, particularly perhaps premium hotel owners. And you have, I think, 51 brands across the core hotel group. And I was just looking at your, your, your presentation, but the fact that for example, there are customers very loyal, let’s say to Ibis, and then there are other members or guests, I guess, who are, you know, much more loyal to, let’s say, a premium brand like raffles.
24m 4s
1

And I know you mentioned that there was some concern that there might be guests that earn in a, let’s say a budget brand and redeem and a premium brand. So I’d love to share that insight because it really is very interesting. What happens with that with your guests?
24m 17s
2

Yes, we, we had made a study before we purchased. It happened when we purchased her Fairmont Fri Fairmont raffles, and Swissotel, we had already made a study, which was showing that members when they redeem, they re they remain loyal to their brands of preference and the brand of preferences, the brand where they earn the most and where it was particularly true. Wasn’t the extremes. So luxury and economy, because our program ranches for really budget to now ultra luxury. And when we purchased FHI, famil truffles and Swiss hotel brands, they expressed, so the management express concerns about that.
25m 6s
2

And the owners expressed concerns about that. I remember one asset manager saying, I don’t want to see pizza delivery in my lobby. I understood perfectly. And what we demonstrated was that, yeah, people who redeem in luxury have earned in a majority for a majority of them, they, they earn their points in luxury or premium upscale hotels. It’s only 1% of people who earn exclusively in economy and to redeem in luxury. So it’s very few. And with all those data, we, we were able to, I would say, manage those concerns and make them understand that no, it’s not going to happen.
25m 53s
2

And it’s understandable. I mean, when you are a frequent. So first of all, you have people who are really brand lovers of economy brands. I know we all know that one of our hero economy brands is IBS and that I base loyalists are really very fond of IBS. IBS loyalists will never feel, will not necessarily feel at ease in hotel where you need to pay for a few years for your breakfast. Yeah, that’s it. And the nice thing of our loyalty program is that you can find lots. You can find all the kinds of brands that you want, and you can redeem where, where wherever you want.
26m 37s
2

And, you know, there’s also this cliche, which was people who travel in are exclusive to luxury. That’s not necessarily true. I would say that at some moments they will, they will travel in luxury, but maybe at some moments, if it’s, I don’t know, you need to stay one night at an airport, they can as well go to an a mid-scale hotel, even in economy, hotel, it does happen. And we can see that through our insights. So yes, there are exclusive luxury members of your seat, but let’s not put people and customers in boxes. Let’s just put all our offer on the shelf and let them choose.
27m 20s
2

Yeah. You know what luxury is, choice after all.
27m 23s
1

You’re totally right. Actually Isabelle. And you’re reminding me of some of my own work, you know, years ago in different sectors, but I did actually conclude the same thing, the principle of flexibility to let somebody choose exactly what it is they want to do. I think it’s important just as like normal, you know, human beings, a level of respect because obviously yes, they’re paying, they’ve earned this, but interesting that they do have the, and the comfort factor around the loyal to the brand that they generally earn with, because this, I don’t know what I was expecting. I know as a, as a consumer, that is how I behave. You know, it’s like, that’s my favorite hotel.
28m 4s
1

If I’m staying there, that’s what I want to stay in. And I also have family and friends who definitely would be loyalists at a, you know, more of a budget brand, for example, they’re much more comfortable there. And I can’t imagine them coming with me when I’m in somewhere, you know, that I’ve been, you know, really looking forward to staying in like a high end hotel, but great to hear that, I suppose, coming through in your analytics.
28m 25s
2

Absolutely. And, you know, analytics is so key in managing a loyalty program. Yeah. Because especially in our case where we need to demonstrate permanently the value to the owners, being able to, I would say, stop any discussion or nourish the discussion with strong analytics. This is really super important. I think it’s from a, a loyalty management perspective, you always need to demonstrate within your own company, the value of, of, of, of the loyalty program, but really within the hotel industry, beyond your own CFO, you also have to convince the hotel owners.
29m 12s
2

So having a very strong analytic space is key in, in, in hospitality.
29m 20s
1

Yeah. Yeah. And I have heard concerns in other hotel Browns where they mustn’t have had the same level of analytics and expertise Isabel, that you have on that core has. And because this particular, you know, just, you know, conversation, I remember somebody having with me was around the difficulty as you referenced, you know, with executing at the, at the time that the guest is in the property because the hotel owners were, were not convinced and therefore wearing, delivering on the brand promise. So, so you’re absolutely right. I mean, we all talk about analytics, but I hadn’t really thought about it in terms of convincing, you know, the people who are delivering.
30m 1s
1

I always think about retail style, for example, but I guess the hotel owners, it’s a whole other level of convincing that they really have to be sure in order to make sure that your guest has the right experience.
30m 13s
2

Absolutely. Absolutely. Getting the staff engaged is also very important. Of course, of course. But I must say that with the launch of our loyalty of the relaunch of Akola of limitless two years ago, we retrained everyone on what is loyalty, not only about the, the knowledge of the program, but about the loyalty mindsets, you know, what does loyalty it’s building trust? You can insurance th the member at the time, he stays at your property and make the, make the stay unbelievable.
30m 56s
2

When the member redeems, it’s a critical moment where you can even magnify even more the se, because as it’s his redeeming, it’s, it’s a, it’s a specific moment, probably more where there’s more, more emotion puts in it. Then one of the regular stays, yes, all this, all this we did when, when we launched. And now what we are trying to do obviously is delivering, finishing, delivering the old promise with this, the whole set of partnerships that we will be developing. So we have just launched a co-brand and on the French market and a co-brand card, which is, is, will, is nothing new for, in the travel industry, but in hotels, outside the U S not so many companies have done.
31m 51s
2

So, so we have just launched this. We will be launching, we have plans of expansion in other regions, too. We have just launched all mobility. We will be introducing an experiential partnership also that will be launched within one month. That will, and when I say experience is, it’s not also, it’s not only tourism activities, but also for people on their place of residence possibility to, to, to get theater tickets shows, et cetera. So this is also, it will also be a way to the program in the day-to-day life.
32m 33s
2

And obviously we have, we are working very strongly with the airlines.
32m 36s
1

This was my next question. I thought this was genius. Tell us about your double dip partnership.
32m 41s
2

Yes. So we have built with the flying blue, the loyalty program, of course, this miles plus points, partnership, where members, when they fly with flying blue, they will they’re miles, but they will also earn all points. And when they stay at the hotel, they will not only earn all points. They will also earn flying blue miles. So they, they earn the two currencies, whether they fly or whether they stay with us. And this is a very, very, very efficient way of relying on the power of, of the both partners in order to drive and maximize the business.
33m 24s
2

Because I mean, the perspective of being able to earn both currencies is really very, very strong. Yeah.
33m 34s
1

And I don’t think I’ve heard of any other partnership that has that double dipping in the travel industry.
33m 41s
2

I think one of our us competitors did it with one American carrier, but not at that scale, but at the scale of maybe they did for the upper tiers, but they didn’t do it for every member. And this model will soon, we will. We we’re in, in, in the Pacific region, we’ll be, we’ve been, we’ll be launching. I think that the moment the podcast is out, yes, we will have launched our partnership with Quantus strengthened partnership with Quantus, which will also propose a miles plus points components, meaning double-dipping.
34m 27s
1

Yes. Oh my goodness. Super exciting
34m 30s
2

That, you know, the interesting thing is that, and I know it well, coming from the airline industry, the airline loyalty programs used to look at the hotel loyalty programs, a little like a secondary, because, because they invented the business, which is true, those salted, the, this business where the airline loyalty programs, when we said we were, I think the first one to propose to airlines, you should do two ways conversions. Oh no, no, no, no. But how can it be that people want to earn your points and not my mind, that’s not possible, but yes it is.
35m 16s
2

And we’ve proven that we can do it. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah,
35m 21s
1

But it proves your point, Isabelle as well about the day-to-day relevance, I guess, other brands like a core and all, and because as you said, it could be, you know, simply dining in one of your restaurants and it could be, you know, using the spa. It’s not necessarily the stay, or even if it is the stay, it might be a stay for three for who knows how many nights, whereas a flight actually just in terms of its duration is relatively short. And I know you’ve made that distinction that I guess the hotel has a bigger opportunity maybe to build loyalty purely by the length of time you’re connecting with people.
35m 55s
2

Yes, yes, yes. The length of stay. And the fact that the is a, is an opportunity for, for our, our hotels and our brands to reinforce the link with the customer and strengthen the, strengthen, the relation with the customer much more than on a, on a short flight. Yes, that’s true.
36m 15s
1

Yeah, for sure. The last piece I wanted to add to talk to you about is about, was a fabulous video, which again was shown at the conference here in Dubai. And I’m hoping we can link to this for, for everybody listening to obviously the podcast, but just a genius video to, to demonstrate loyalty, I guess, to the, the Paris, your man team. And as a way, and equating that, I guess, to the hotel loyalty. So would you maybe just tell us a bit about this fabulous fun video you guys created?
36m 46s
2

So it’s, it’s a video where people show up at the reception. I think we shot in three of our, of our hotels in the, in the three different brands and three different cities in Europe, in Europe, and people show up at the reception and they are fans of another team. And then the receptionist starts explaining, oh, I have a fantastic offer to make to you. You will have an upgrade. You will have a complimentary pool, complimentary breakfast, the big blah-blah-blah. And the only thing you need to do is to wear shirts.
37m 30s
2

And obviously it’s filmed as a hidden camera. Yeah. And obviously the guy who’s maybe a Manchester real Madrid supporter, or a buyer says, no, that’s not possible. And at the end, because, and because they stick firma, they remain loyal to their, to their football club every time. And because they remain loyal to their team. Yeah. At the end, we say, well, you know, we value loyalty so much. Let’s forget about the shirts. We reward you with a diamond, a diamond status. Wow. And, you know, it’s, it’s to demonstrate what loyalty is and the nice thing about this movie, because we did a lot of previous movie through it.
38m 16s
2

this one was within our hotels. Yeah. It was, it was showcasing , but not so much. It was showcasing loyalty insight, the environment of the hotels. And, and I know that’s our, our, our countries and our regions are very fonder of this movie, much more than the other ones, which were also nice movies with ISO . But this one was really focused on hotels and they, they are taking ownership of that movie because it’s happening at the hotels. So with bringing inside, I would say inside the hotel, we really managed to make this blend and this link between all our cool live limitless and the hotel.
39m 7s
2

And that’s, I was explaining earlier, one of the things we want to develop is increased the awareness of all being before everything, a hotel loyalty program, it’s a way of, it’s a way of doing it. And I would encourage everyone to go and watch it on YouTube. It’s available on YouTube. So I would encourage everyone to go and watch it on YouTube.
39m 34s
1

We’ll make sure Isabel to leave to us in the show notes. And when we send this podcast out as well to all the listeners, I’ll make sure we include that video as well, because that would be great. It’s honestly, well, I saw the reaction and as you know, there was, I think 180 loyalty professionals, you know, at the conference together, watching and such, you know, everyone connected and laughed and really went. That was a brilliant piece of marketing. So
40m 0s
2

I’ve told the story. I spoke to everyone. I’m sorry. No,
40m 4s
1

But it’s, it’s important because we all love loyalty so much to, to see a demonstrated by consumers and, you know, genuinely tempted with alternatives and it was a clever approach. So we’ll definitely make sure to link to that. And what, before we go, I guess I just wanted to, to thank our friends in Collinson for connecting us. I know you’re working with them for a long time.
40m 26s
2

Yes. They are providing us the technological platform, which enables all the redemption each shop, but also the experiences. So thanks. We really are grateful for their cooperation being a few years solid partnership.
40m 45s
1

Wonderful. That’s always good to hear. Yeah, no, and I was delighted because as I said, I was at the event, I sold the, a core presentation. Didn’t get a chance to go and, you know, connect with the guys to invite them on the show. And, and then we were connected directly. So that was fantastic. So listen, I think I’ve asked everything from my side. Isabel, is there anything else that you wanted to mention for listeners before we wrap up?
41m 8s
2

Yeah. Look, I would invite all the listeners to become members of all our core live, limitless and experience it themselves. And don’t hesitate to send a, to send the feedback to me. Wonderful. Isabel dot blm@accord.com. Oh, I love customer feedback. Okay.
41m 27s
1

Because it dates wonderful. Yes. Well, I signed up just from my recent stay because I did stay over for the conferences. Well, Isabelle, so I’m a fully signed up member myself. Now. I’m very excited about the proposition. So listen, I think it’s a great place to, to finish up. So I just want to say Isabel, Bahram senior vice president of loyalty at a core. Thank you so much from let’s talk loyalty. Thank you so much from let’s talk loyalty. This show is sponsored by “The Wise Marketer”, the world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing news, insights and research.
42m 6s
1

The Wise Marketer also offers loyalty marketing training, both online and in workshops around the world through its Loyalty Academy, which has already certified over 150 executives in 18 countries as Certified Loyalty Marketing Professionals. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of “Let’s Talk Loyalty”. If you’d like me to send you the latest show each week, simply sign up for the show newsletter on Let’s Talk Loyalty.com and I’ll send you the latest episode to your inbox every Thursday, or just head to your favorite podcast platform, find “Let’s Talk Loyalty” and subscribe. Now, of course I’d love your feedback and reviews and thanks again for supporting the show.