Paula: Hello and welcome to today’s episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV. Today I’m back talking with Australia, this time meeting the leading hotel travel subscription program from the Accor Group. Many of you will be familiar with the Accor Hotel Group, which now offers more than 45 hotel brands across all segments. A total of 5,600 properties around the world, from smart economy hotels, all the way up to luxury 5-star palaces, exquisite residences and full service resorts. And most of you will also be familiar with All, Accor’s fee-free loyalty program, which we featured on the show a few times. But Accor Plus is another proposition entirely. A fee-based proposition designed to appeal to savvy travellers who prioritise exceptional value and exclusive experiences.
Our guest is Renae Trimble, CEO of Accor Plus, who joins us to share the latest updates from this unique paid element of the Accor Global Proposition as it celebrates its 30th birthday. This program now boasts more than 450,000 members. So we’re delighted to share this unique program and learn how they’ve managed to achieve such incredible success and for so many years. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
So Renae Trimble, welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and to Loyalty TV.
Renae: Thank you, Paula. It’s great to be with you today.
Paula: Thank you. Great, great. Joining us today from sunny Australia, I think, is it Sydney you’re based in, Renae?
Renae: I am based in Sydney, but I actually have just landed on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland for a family wedding. So the sun is shining.
Paula: Oh my goodness. Well, first of all, I was at the Gold Coast just very briefly, of course, with the Australian Loyalty Association, had their conference there recently. But even more importantly, congrats on the family wedding. I feel honoured to be on your agenda for such a busy time.
Renae: No, it’s an honour for me. I listen to your podcast all the time. So it’s a great honour to be on the show with you. So thank you.
Paula: Fantastic, Renae. Well, listen, Australia, of course, in itself, is a very fascinating loyalty market. And we’ve had Accor on the show before, of course, in terms of the all program. But you’re here to talk about something very different. And I think one of the hot topics of the day around the subscription program that you are managing. So lots to dig into.
But before we get into all of that, Renae, as you know, we always start our show trying to get a sense of what you admire as a loyalty professional around the industry. So let’s kick off with our favourite opening question. Please do tell our audience, what is your favourite loyalty program?
Renae: Well, I couldn’t pick just one, so I’m going with two. Qantas, definitely, I think they do an extraordinary job. And Mecca is my other favourite.
Paula: Okay, now I’m briefly familiar with Mecca as a makeup brand, Renae, but I think a lot of our audience around the world, maybe in different markets, might know it. So tell us a bit about that. We probably know a little bit more about the Qantas ones. So again, we love Qantas. But let’s dig into the Mecca loyalty program.
Renae: Yeah, I think it’s just, it’s very simple. You know, I love the ease. It’s always very difficult to remember when you’re in a Mecca store, because it’s overwhelming. They have so much choice. Which lipstick or which number mascara or whatever it may be, a foundation. They have all that recorded. They’re super helpful. So you don’t need to remember anything, which is awesome. And then, of course, they have an incredible beauty look, which is some incredible grits that really do their job, because I end up buying more things that I don’t actually need. But so it’s a great program.
Paula: You know, and actually, just as you talk about that, like I always like to like listen and hear something that I’ve never heard before. And the history of my shopping behaviour in a makeup context is not something I’ve ever really thought about. And you’re totally right. Like, I think we’re all loyal to certain brands, certain colours. And if you’ve fallen in love with a colour of a lipstick and then can’t find it, my god, it’s it’s it’s devastating. What?
Renae: It’s a crisis, of course. Yeah. Or you got the wrong wrong foundation. That’s never never good either. So, yeah, they do they do it very well. It’s very simple, but it’s very good.
Paula: Very amazing. Great, great. Well, well done, Mecca. We’ll try and get them, of course, on the show. We always, I suppose, look to these ideas as well, just for a bit of brainstorming from our side, just to get more loyalty insights, of course, coming on the show all of the time. And so listen, let’s get into you, I suppose, Renae, as a, I suppose, first and foremost, hospitality professional. You do have an extraordinary career. And then we’ll move into how you fell in love with loyalty, as I know you did like we did. So tell us about your amazing career to date.
Renae: Yeah, thank you. I have been in the industry quite some time, hospitality for a number of years, but particularly in hotels for over 20 years. And I’ve had well over 20 years, I should say. I’ve had an incredible and really incredible career. And it started in sales. It’s basically started in sales and marketing and corporate sales.
And then I moved into a more broader scope, including marketing. And then I just really have a passion for selling, which is terrific. I love it. And then worked at really a number of different hotel chains. But I’ve been with Accor for almost 17 years now. Next year will be 17 years.
And I’ve had eight different roles in the organization in that time. So it’s such an incredibly fast paced, dynamic, innovative company. It’s just been wonderful and provided me so many opportunities. So I started there in 2008 in sales.
And had an opportunity. Loyalty for us, we were a bit later coming to the party than some of our US chains in terms of a loyalty program. We certainly made up for it now. But it was something that fascinated me. And I got an opportunity in 2013 to head up Loyalty, which we were re-branding at that time to Le Club, Accor Hotel, which was the program’s name back then. And I got given the opportunity and I’ve never looked back. And I’ve loved every second of loyalty and the evolution of it. We started with half a million members. And that was the reward, the free program, which is the reward based program, which people would know today as ALL Accor Live Limitless. And, yeah, we’ve grown that to significant partnerships that the team deliver, continue to deliver today. And the growth is exciting.
And then two years ago, I was asked, almost two years ago now, I was asked to take on the role of CEO for Accor Plus, which is our subscription, our paid subscription loyalty program. And I’ve been doing that for the last two years. And then really, you know, it’s a fabulous program, way ahead of its time. If you think about it, everyone’s talking about subscription today. But this program actually started in Australia in 1994. So it’s actually we just celebrated our 30th anniversary.
Paula: Wow. Well, listen, happy anniversary. My goodness, Renae, that is honestly an incredible idea, actually back. I’m trying to remember what I was doing in 94. I wasn’t certainly even in loyalty. So for for you to be thinking about subscription based in hospitality, which honestly for me is still something that’s not being seen, I think, very often. But if you guys are already doing it for 30 years, you’re definitely the experts.
And I was going to say, of course, you know, the Accor Live Limitless program, I think our regular listeners will know have been on the show a couple of times. So I think we’ve had a pretty good introduction to the free global program. And of course, it’s extraordinarily powerful. I’ve always loved particularly the link with the e-commerce side of Accor as a group. I think you guys tie it together perhaps better than any other hotel brand. And really driving that booking behaviour directly on your website by leveraging the program is something that I’ve just always admired. So definitely one of people haven’t heard. We’ll make sure to link to those previous episodes in the show notes.
And I suppose we should also congratulate them. I don’t think we’ve had anyone from Accor on the show since the Australian Loyalty Awards and Asia Pacific Loyalty Awards more correctly. So I think all won a couple there. And then Accor Plus will be will be up for next year because that’s coming up for entries as well. So exciting times.
Renae: Absolutely. And the team do an incredible job. And they’ll continue to grow that program. And the partnerships, what they do for members is extraordinary. And I think their streets ahead and they’ll continue to grow. So they’re a wonderful team, delivering the best to customers.
And also supported by incredible hotels, right? Because it’s great, one thing to have a loyalty program. But really making sure that that recognition and that delivery at a hotel level is super, super important. And our hotels are really engaged with loyalty and deliver it and understand what it means. And that’s really important.
Paula: Incredible, of course. Yes. I mean, the best laid plans, as we all know, can absolutely fail at the point of sale, at the point of check-in. So, yeah, we’re very, very grateful for the rollout and the execution when it really matters. So very important. So thanks for that.
So talk to us about Accor Plus then, Renae. To me, I think it’s just really fascinating to see that you’re managing to run two programs, two propositions, and both growing phenomenally. Because again, it’s one thing to put a proposition in the market. It’s another thing for people to engage, particularly to engage and make a payment, which, of course, is where you’re managing to drive incredible results. Talk to us about Accor Plus and what the overall proposition is for consumers.
Renae: Absolutely. Thank you. The program, as I said, started in 1994. It actually started because we were taking over a hotel in the south coast of New South Wales. At that time, that property had a great food and beverage. It actually started as a food and beverage offering. Then we very quickly realised that it also delivered very good rooms, revenue, and business to the hotels. That’s how basically the program then evolved from that.
So humble beginnings as an F&B offering, then morphed into what the program is today, which is an incredible subscription program, which also then links in with ALL. Our members, when they purchase an annual membership, which is a 12-month membership, receive a free night at their choice of any Accor Hotel across Asia Pacific. The program runs in Asia Pacific today, but we do have big plans for the future, and we’ll get to that later on. So we operate across Asia Pacific in many different countries. Obviously, Accor’s footprint in terms of the hotels is extraordinary in Asia Pacific, with well over 1,000 hotels, more than that. So it’s a great choice for members from brands right through to from our lifestyle and luxury hotels, right through to our apartment products and premium, mid-scale and our economy hotels. So a lot of choice for members.
So within the membership, they get that free night. They can redeem at a hotel of their choice. They get ongoing accommodation discounts throughout the year. They also then receive a food and beverage discount of up to 50 percent. There’s some nuances between Australia and Asia.
But again, we’re looking for the future of what that will look like, and making it very simple, a very simple promise for our members. And then they also then have access to deals. We do our hotels, put in incredible work together for our teams, for our members, for hotel deals. So we have what we call a Red Hot Rooms section on our website. And this year alone, there’ll be 2,500 dedicated offers to Accor Plus members for deals across hotels across Asia Pacific, which is a phenomenal number.
Paula: Yeah, my goodness. Red Hot Rooms, I love it. That’s very exciting.
Renae: Yeah, Red Hot Rooms is terrific. And then the other big thing for our members is the curated experiences. So this is where our partnership, where we work so closely with the Accor team. And they, we, members can burn points for experiences.
So a lot of the partnerships, whether it be sport or entertainment, theatre, members either have a, can do a combination of burning points to attend events. They also additionally, they pay for curated experiences and a big, big catering on food and beverage. So in Bangkok, we have this incredible chefs that cook and do amazing and matching with wine and our members can come to that. Some members, some of the events are paid, so members pay additional on top of the membership to attend some of these events. So it’s just extraordinary.
This year we’ll have over 300 curated experiences for members between a combination of burning points or paying to, to a money can’t buy experience. And I think this year it’s about 10 million points that our members will have burned to experience something. So that’s incredible. It really makes them feel part of the community.
Paula: Totally. And honestly, my goodness, as if you were busy enough growing at such a phenomenal rate, and, you know, creating all of those. They are, I tend to find, initially very time consuming as a business to put in place, but clearly the value is there long term. And once people do start redeeming for them or buying them, as you said, that’s obviously proving the value to those members.
And so just to summarize that overall proposition, like what I’m hearing, of course, is it’s incredibly broad. But also I like, I suppose, the headline benefits if I’m just to take it back a bit. So the actual price point, if I’m not mistaken, is 399 Australian dollars. Is that right?
Renae: That’s right. Yes.
Paula: Okay. And I worked out my exchange rate just for people around the world. So certainly in the US, that’s 264 US dollars. So, you know, in the context of a free hotel night, that feels like something I could probably justify pretty easily just on its own. And then, of course, what you’re doing is layering on all of those other benefits. As you said, very rich kind of F&B discounts, and discounts on hotel rooms. So sounds like something that is both compelling upfront, but also something compelling for renewal, I’m hoping. Is it?
Renae: Absolutely. Yes. Renewals, this program is extraordinary. The average tenure of our members is three plus years.
Paula: Okay.
Renae: And our retention rate is very high. It’s well north of the 50 percent, which for a paid membership program each year is extraordinary. So, yeah, we’re very proud of that. We still, we think we can be even better than that.
But it is really about how do we capture, once we’ve got people into the program and they’ve experienced it, certainly that first year or those first one or two years, then we know we’ve got them pretty much.
We know that they see the value, they’ve experienced it, and we basically have the ability then to keep them in the program, which is terrific. So we’ve got to work hard for the first couple of years.
And then we really once, yeah, it’s a great program. So yeah, you’re right. The free nights, the headline, it nets out the cost of the membership. And most people are burning that probably in a luxury hotel. So they’re getting that enjoyment. They’re seeing the benefits straight away, which is great.
Paula: Yeah. Yeah. And I love words as well, Renae, as you probably know from listening to the show. So just that idea of it nets out, that to me is a very, like a very compelling way to think about subscription, because, like, I think we all understand the psychology that the consumer definitely does the maths when it comes to a paid program.
Whereas, you know, if it’s a free program, they may sign up if they’ve got the time, of course, and they value and trust the brand. But when it comes to actually putting the credit card down and particularly on something that’s likely to renew, then absolutely it’s something that you need to kind of almost eliminate the need for the math and make sure that they instantly can justify that.
Renae: 100 percent, exactly I think that that’s exactly what we do. We just need to make it easy for members to renew. I think for the members, there’s so many layers, as you said, in this program. It really appeals to so many, whether you’re a food and beverage critic, to whether you want to make sure that you can get access to tickets because Accor have some incredible partnerships, and incredible in the whole ecosystem. So, really having access to that, or just people who love, are going on holidays or travel frequently. It’s a no-brainer for those members. So, it’s something for everyone. And then, of course, for the people who like points as well, we all love points.
As soon as you purchase an Accor Plus membership, in addition to those benefits, you become a silver member within ALL. And you start working through the status levels and all the benefits that are associated in the ALL program. So that’s where the two converge for the members to make it even more reaching. Yeah.
Paula: Yeah. Yeah. I have to say, as soon as I got status, first on my favourite airline program, we’ve obviously talked about that as well on the show quite a lot. But at the same with them, with any hotel program, as soon as you get the status, it becomes something that is compelling in its own way. So I learnt the term status chaser quite recently and I love it. So for me, absolutely to be a silver member with Accor is absolutely incredible. So wonderful that that’s something that they get upfront.
And just talk to me then a bit, Renae, we’ve talked a little bit about retention and thank you for sharing those figures, because that really is what the show is about. As you said, retaining people on a paid program year in, year out is definitely not something we can ever take for granted. But even just at the sign up phase, given that, of course, you’ve got, as we talked about, the incredible people at the front desk.
But I know you mentioned to me that historically you’ve also had a lot of people signed up through a tele-sales function. So I’d love to get a sense of how that has worked in the past and maybe how it’s evolving over time.
Renae: Yeah, we’ve had significant change in the business in the last few years. So when we started in 1994 and the program started to take off in the Pacific, it was then delivered throughout Asia. But it started basically via a tele-sales office in a hotel, and it just grew. So up until 2018, 2019, 95 percent of our business was through tele-sales.
Paula: Wow, that’s incredible.
Renae: Yeah, it’s incredible. And today, that’s around 50 percent. And we’re really shifting to more an omni-channel strategy. It’s pretty much been a singular tele-sales strategy. And obviously moving forward, that’s not where our members are at either. Our members, you know, in 2019, 70, nearly 100 percent of our communication with members was either voice, was about 76 percent voice, and then 20 percent email. Today, it’s 37 percent voice. And it’s chat, it’s social media, it’s the way that members want to communicate with us is far, far different. And it’s different because we run across Asia Pacific, it’s different in each country as well. So that’s really changed our view and also a huge opportunity for growth. So we now have a significant part of our business is delivered through partnerships, and I’m sure we’ll get to talk about that, but also online. So it’s a really more of a dynamic omni-channel strategy, and we’re going to evolve that in the next few years quite significantly.
Paula: Yeah, yeah. Omni-channel is definitely the way to go, and I think a lot of us have had call centers as well over, I suppose, longer term horizons. Definitely not something I hear too much, I suppose, on the show in this day and age. But just to understand that a little bit more, even as its role is decreasing, as we’ve talked about, I assume they were kind of maybe calling, essentially, maybe former guests or people that had, I guess, some relationship with Accor. Would that be fair to say that maybe they’ve stayed in a hotel?
OK, so you’ve had permission to maybe contact them on an occasional basis, they’ve obviously stayed, so there’s a certain amount of, I suppose, permission to chat with people. So I think that’s a nice idea, actually, that you do kind of leverage the fact that they’ve stayed and give them an opportunity to increase their relationship with the brand.
Renae: Yeah, exactly. And there’s already a connection there. So it makes that call, you know, much, much easier.
But the other channel, and our hotels, our hotel teams do recruit members at a hotel level because it’s a perfect opportunity. They have the guests there that they can benefit from. So and they’re having those conversations. So we also have, that is a channel, probably a little bit of a lesser channel, but it’s still, it’s a perfect opportunity for the guests to join up straight away.
Paula: So yeah, and I guess just because you do have the two programs, Renae, would they offer both traditionally or do they tend to, you know, choose one at a time or maybe look at somebody who’s a member of the free program and then suggest maybe they consider Accor Plus or how do you train them in terms of, because two is already a decision and sometimes check-in is quite busy. So we’d just love to know how you position the two alongside each other in that particular channel.
Renae: Yeah, it is good and basically every, we bring people in through all. So if you’re Accor and you probably have heard, our acquisition funnel is our brands. So we have incredible brands. We have nearly, we have over 43, 45 brands across the globe.
So our brands get people and that’s what people have an affection to a particular brand. That’s where we get them in. Once we have them into our eco, that brings them into them and you’ve also mentioned our all.com, our e-commerce strategy, we get them booking on all.com. Once they’re in that ecosystem, that’s where we start talking to them about loyalty. It’s always ALL. So first is obviously it makes complete sense. Where we want to grow and have the volume is through ALL.
Renae: It’s not to further down in the funnel. At the pointy end, that’s when we want to talk to customers about Accor Plus. That’s really what once we’ve got them in because they understand loyalty through ALL. They’re using our hotels, they’re using our app. That’s when we have a better opportunity and it’s very simple. It’s much simpler to convert into the paid subscription. That’s where we just get that deeper engagement with members. It’s not purely, it’s not a volume play. It’s a quality kind of discussion. That’s how we work together with ALL. But from our teams, ALL, that they absolutely, it’s ALL, and then there’ll be opportunities for them to be able to position that program. But we don’t sell it to everyone.
Paula: Okay, and I like it actually because it’s much more respectful, I think, as well as a strategy to the individual guest, because, you know, the last thing anyone wants to do is overwhelm people. And there is a lot to talk about.
So I like that, that you literally just, yeah, I suppose it’s the customer lifetime strategy, I suppose, in terms of the life cycle, seeing where they are in their relationship with Accor as a group, as you said, and then how can we deepen it? How can we broaden it? And how can we, I suppose, communicate a new opportunity over time without trying to do too much at one time?
Renae: Exactly, exactly.
Paula: Incredible, incredible. So lots of amazing positives, enormous growth. You briefly touched on the number, but just in case anybody missed it earlier, Renae. So you’re 450,000 people on the paid program as things stand.
Renae: Yes, that’s where we are today, and that number is growing. That’s a 43% increase year over year for us. 2023 was our most successful year in terms of growth, and that was incredible, but we were going to surpass that in 2024.
The other key stat which I love because it talks to the engagement of our members. Last year was our most successful year in terms of delivering. Our members stayed 2.2 million room nights in Accor Hotels across Asia Pacific. This year, we were going to reach the 3 million room night target for the hotels. That’s quite incredible.
You’re talking about engagement and retention. Once we get those members in, they love and they will go out of their way to find an Accor Hotel once they’re in this program. It’s really terrific and delivering great business for our hotels. About nearly 60% of the business being booked through the app is Accor Plus members in this part of the world, which is phenomenal.
Paula: Totally, totally. Well, listen, congratulations, Renae. I think anybody listening to this show or any business person with growth of 43% year on year would be jumping up and down to celebrate. So that itself is just incredible that the proposition again is obviously really resonating and people are joining and signing and renewing. So congrats on the success.
And with that, I suppose I always get reminded that life is not perfect and we shouldn’t only talk about the positives in terms of what’s going well and what we’re super proud of. So when you think about challenges, Renae, I’m sure there’s plenty of ups and downs along the journey in terms of creating something like this. So if you were to talk about any of the things that either keep you awake at night or that you tend to kind of really go, my goodness, we need to do more on that area. What would you say are your biggest challenges?
Renae: I think pace, I’m going to say pace is the biggest challenge because it’s no sooner, like particularly with tech, because you make a decision and by the time you implement something in a business, particularly around when you, whether it’s a communication channel, and it’s very different.
In 12 months’ time, there’s a new channel in a different part of the world, that that’s how people want to buy, or there’s a different payment method that you need to have for each of the countries that we’re in. So pace is a big challenge because when you’re trying to move a business of this size and continually innovate, you’ve got to move really, really quickly. So I think that’s probably what keeps me awake and trying to predict what the next thing is so we know what it is.
And for me, I think it’s really around the other one is channels. Just really understanding like what is, where are our channel strategy today? So partnerships and online and we’ll have a mix of tele sales but less, certainly less of a reliance. What will that look like? That’s going to look very different in probably end of 2025 or 2026.
So it’s trying to stay ahead of that and make sure that then you have the right tech. So it’s seamless for members that we can integrate and they have a seamless experience. So that’s a constant evolution. That’s the one thing. How do we keep evolving and keeping up with that change. That’s probably what keeps me up.
Paula: Well, honestly, I always say, Renae, everything that I want to do in our business always seems to take twice as long a course, twice as much as I ever expected to. So I think that’s something I can see you’re nodding as well. So that’s something that seems to be constant for all of us. And again, I think we’re very ambitious in this industry. So not surprised to hear that. And thank you for sharing.
So talk to us about the partnerships then. You’ve mentioned that word a couple of times. It’s something that is very close to my heart. I’ve done a lot in the partnership space in loyalty specifically. So how do you think about partnerships as you grow Accor Plus?
Renae: Yeah, Accor Plus, having come from the old side, our partnerships was pretty straightforward in a way. But with Accor Plus, it’s much more targeted. It’s probably that deeper engagement again. So a lot of our partnerships, we’ve got quite a few on the financial, within the financial industry. And that is where some of our partners will purchase our membership and have it embedded in their offering. So really, we’ve got to find the right partner that will see value or need to enhance their value, their product offering to the customer.
Obviously, it lends itself nicely to certain products because it’s a lifestyle product. So that’s really where I think we have huge opportunity to grow that even more. A couple of years ago, partnerships was 3% of our revenue and today it’s over 20%. And that’s going to continue to evolve.
But a very simple one, if I can just give you an example, because you can go from financial big at one end to a very simple partnership, but it’s worked so well is with Subaru. So Subaru is a car manufacturer in Australia. And during certain sales periods or if they have new models or a sale on, they gift, if you buy a new Subaru during that period, they gift that membership to the customer who’s just bought the new car.
And obviously, it ties really nicely in. It works perfectly for the product that they’re selling because it is about exploring, getting out, jumping in your car, exploring. And then you’ve got this incredible loyalty, the lifestyle product that gives you access to over all these in the Pacific. It’s over 400 hotels and 25 brands. It’s quite exceptional. So it’s a perfect fit. And that’s worked really, really well for them. And it’s been a great partnership for us. So there’s lots of different opportunities, I think, that will continue to grow for us. And we’re only probably, we’re at the very beginning of our partnership journey. But it’s a huge future for us in the that we have ahead of us.
Paula: Yeah, it’s a very clever strategy, Renae, on both your side, of course, but also from Subaru themselves. I can totally see the fit. I always feel like with cars that, first of all, I’ve tended to be, I suppose, surprised there hasn’t been more loyalty propositions when it comes to that industry.
So when I look around the world, we don’t hear about a lot of them. And I think I did kind of conclude at one stage, it was because it was kind of difficult for them to do any more, I guess, in terms of within their own product set.
So I love the fact that they’re stepping outside of that, as you’ve said, and started to work with you guys to offer something that’s really a talking point, I guess gives them the word of mouth marketing, which we all know and love. And gives them something again, which they can go and experience, of course, the hotel stay itself, the first free hotel night. And then they can all, you know, obviously build that back and attribute that to Subaru itself. It’s a lovely concept.
Renae: Yeah, it works so well. And it just, it’s a natural fit, really, when you think about it. But you’re right, a lot of people haven’t thought about it. And that’s where we’ve got a great opportunity, I think, to talk to partners in the future. So yeah, it’s, we’re very pleased with it, and we’ll continue our partnership with Subaru and certainly look for other opportunities.
Paula: Yeah.
Renae: Easy, it’s a good product because of the value and the price point. So it’s not, it’s just perfect because it’s not a cheap product. So people, therefore, the value associated with that is exceptional. And that’s why it works, I think.
Paula: Totally, yeah. And it taps into that idea, which, again, I’ve kind of heard of briefly in other sectors and other markets, where, you know, as you said, you’ve got a headline price. We’ve talked about $399 Australian dollars. So, you know, instantly the person buying the car knows that they’re getting that kind of $400 value.
And of course, if they’re buying it at scale, there’s going to be a negotiation benefit, of course, for the car brand itself. So obviously, they don’t have to pay, I’m sure, the full ticket price in terms of rewarding their their new car owners. So definitely a strategy that makes amazing sense. And as you said, if it’s already 20% of your business, like that B2B strategy is something that I think a lot of loyalty programs actually just don’t have maybe the time or or just the insight in terms of the opportunity that’s available for them.
Renae: Absolutely. I think maybe after this podcast, we might have some more people coming to us, which would be awesome. But yeah, I think it’s definitely going to be something that I think will grow significantly in the future. Sure.
Paula: Indeed. Yes. I will definitely make sure, of course, to link to you in the show notes for anyone who might want to explore that opportunity, Renae, because that would be a wonderful result now if you did get some new partners as a result of the conversation.
So listen, we’ve talked a lot then, of course, about the extraordinary 30-year heritage, as you’ve said, the sheer innovation coming from humble beginnings, as you said, in terms of food and beverage, building to a hotel proposition in Australia and now in so many countries across the whole region. And it sounds like you’re almost teasing us there that it might be something that might roll out globally. But I’m sure we’ll have to watch and see what happens as you go forward.
But anything else you can tell us about the future, Renae? What are you thinking about? What are you planning for? Anything else that’s coming up that we can learn from?
Renae: Yeah, I think I’m really, really excited about the future because I think, I think you mentioned it right at the very beginning. Subscription is forecasted to be something like, and I’m talking all subscription, you know, 1.5 US trillion dollars in 20, by 2025 or 2026, which is phenomenal, right? And if you then drill down and you did touch on this, travel, and certainly hospitality, is underrepresented within that spend.
And that’s where we believe at Accor, we have a huge opportunity here to take a really good piece of that. And we’ve already got a product that’s been so successful for the last 30 years. And we know we can do it. We know how to do subscription. And we’ve been doing it a long time. We are evolving, though. We have to evolve.
And the future, we certainly want, we’ve been focused on growth and evolution. And that’s really what we’ve been working with our colleagues in Paris on, is really how do we get that growth? Where is that going to come from? What are the markets? And also, how quickly can we get there and speed to market? So I think you’re going to be that. I can’t give too much away.
But you definitely, growth and evolution should give you some keys to where we’re going. But it is, and again, it’s not a subscription, it’s about quality. So it’s very different. We will always lead with ALL, and that is the bedrock of loyalty for Accor globally. And as I said, it’s then at the right point in time to the right customer. How do we engage you into that deeper connection with us? And that will be through our subscription program.
Paula: Indeed. Yes. And actually, I know when we chatted before as well, Renae, you mentioned some research that you’ve done in terms of just, I suppose, really making sure that you’re staying connected to exactly what your members need. So I’m sure that’s an ongoing piece. Anything, you know, just as final, you know, parting words of wisdom that you learned from that research that you can share with our audience?
Renae: Yeah, research from the members that we did last, oh, this year, actually, has been invaluable because what we don’t want to, because when you talk about loyalty, so emotive, as you know.
So really, what we wanted to do is we really wanted to make sure that we were very factual, we were very precise and really listened. So we made and we are making the right decisions for the future. Members, the free night is definitely, definitely the lead in terms of what members see as the opportunity and the key benefit of the program.
The next one, I was a little bit surprised by some of our research. The next one was price. That was probably natural. Then a little bit lower down was experiences and partnerships, which I thought, I think that’s going to emerge and be even greater over the years. But definitely price, the value, the way that we communicate with members definitely is, and also ease to do business with. That was the other one. Make it easy for me. Make it easy for me to renew. Make it easy for me to join. Make it easy for me to book. That was definitely came through in the research that we received.
Paula: Amazing. Actually, it would be remiss if I didn’t clarify that bit. Actually, Renae, just even from my own understanding, do you auto-renew or you ask the member to actively, proactively renew? What do you default to?
Renae: In the Pacific currently, it’s auto-renew and more than half of our members are auto-renewing. We are about to progressively roll that out. We just needed some tech and some payment option updates. That’s the evolution. It’s constantly evolving throughout Asia. So it is such a big region. So we will be rolling out that across those markets in the quarter one, 2025. And really, the intention is we would like people to auto-renew. And I think customers are very savvy. They understand subscription today. There’s so much out there. And it’s just ease. And so we’ll be heading in that direction across the whole program by quarter one.
Paula: Amazing. Yeah. It’s something we’re thinking about actively for our own business as well, Renae, as you probably won’t be surprised to hear. But as you said, this idea that the overall headline has to net out is something that we’re currently reflecting on ourselves because there is so much out there in terms of competition for all of us in terms of our attention and our lifestyle budget. Thank you for the words of wisdom.
I think I’ve asked you everything I wanted to touch on today, Renae. Is there anything else you wanted to mention for our audience before we wrap up?
Renae: No. Two things. Please buy our membership. It’s awesome. You will never regret it. You will love it.
But also just a thank you, I think, is an opportunity for our teams. There’s no way we could deliver what we deliver without the teams, and certainly without the hotels. So to all of the teams at Accor globally that support the program every day, we couldn’t do it without them. And to our team, we have an extraordinary team across Asia Pacific. And yeah, they’re all wonderful. And they continually look to see how we can make an improvement for a member. So hats off to them. And yeah, thank you.
Paula: Wonderful. Great stuff. And as we said earlier, we’ll make sure to link to your profile in the show notes as well, Renae, in case anybody wants to reach out either for a partnership, of course, or to buy a membership, of course. I’ll certainly be looking at that myself. So lots to follow up on.
And from my side, I suppose, I’m just hoping we can stay in touch, Renae, because I’d love to pick up the conversation again, maybe in another year’s time and just see your continued success and incredible growth. So so it’s been an extraordinary conversation. I know our audiences around the world will be thrilled to hear all of your unique subscription insights.
So Renae Trimble, CEO of Accor Plus, thank you so much from Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.
Renae: Thank you, Paula. It’s been amazing. Thank you so much.
Paula: This show is sponsored by Wise Marketer Group, publisher of the Wise Marketer, the premier digital customer loyalty marketing resource for industry relevant news, insights, and research. Wise Marketer Group also offers loyalty education and training globally through its Loyalty Academy, which has certified nearly 900 marketers and executives in 49 countries as certified loyalty marketing professionals.
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