Hotel Tech-in is our regular feature that takes a closer look at emerging technology in the hospitality industry.
Traveler preferences around hotel loyalty are changing, with reward redemption flexibility and personalized experiences becoming top priorities.
One company tapping into this shifting demand is Laasie, a hotel loyalty program using artificial intelligence and behavioral data to help independent hotels reframe how they reward guests.
Instead of rewards spanning broad membership tiers, Laasie aims to give travelers the choice between instant rewards, points, cash back and individualized experiences. This “dual-strategy” way of distributing rewards doesn’t just benefit the guest; it also drives direct bookings and guest retention for hotels, Laasie Chief Revenue Officer Ellis Connolly told Hotel Dive.
Tech-enabled hotel loyalty
Laasie first launched in 2016 as a direct booking tool, with the goal to offer hotel guests personalized and instant rewards, Connolly shared. Now, the company powers loyalty for thousands of hotels across the world, helping them drive more direct bookings and higher ADR while also retaining guest business.
“You’ve got to create optionality for your guests to be able to choose their own path. That's where we think the industry is heading.”
Ellis Connolly
Laasie Chief Revenue Officer
Laasie’s platform features a guest-facing portal, reward and redemption cataloging capabilities, real-time analytics and data connectivity infrastructure, Connolly said. Additionally, the platform’s AI concierge uses generative AI and proprietary guest data, including stay history and reward preferences, to deliver personalized perks for guests and increase conversions.
“We launched under the concept that instant gratification and instant rewards actually drive direct bookings,” Connolly said. For Benchmark Resorts & Hotels, an independent collection by Pyramid Global Hospitality, Laasie’s technology has helped capture nearly 175,000 guest enrollments and increased conversions by roughly 4.5 times, per a Laasie case study.
Beyond Benchmark and other independent hotel partners, Laasie has integrations with 35 booking engines across the globe, enabling guests to receive personalized loyalty rewards during their booking journeys, Connolly said.
Laasie operates a dual-strategy loyalty model that offers guests instant rewards, such as a spa credit or room upgrade, as well as points and cash back, all under the same platform. In certain cases, the company can also offer local experiential rewards, Connolly shared. For example, a beach resort that has a relationship with a nearby scuba or parasailing shop could incorporate that experience into its loyalty strategy and offer it as a reward through Laasie’s platform.
A shifting hotel loyalty landscape
Laasie’s diverse rewards opportunities cater to both leisure and business travelers, who have different loyalty demands, Connolly explained.
Most business travelers typically bank points during their corporate stays to spend later on leisure vacations. Meanwhile, leisure guests, who aren’t traveling as frequently and may never amass enough points to reach a certain loyalty tier or benefit level, often prefer instant perks rather than points, Connolly said.
“Points are important — I’m not saying that they’re not — but if you can add experiences in parallel to point strategies, that's where we think hotels are going to make a massive difference,” Connolly said. “You’ve got to create optionality for your guests to be able to choose their own path. That's where we think the industry is heading.”
As instant gratification increasingly drives consumer behavior, Connolly said he wouldn’t be surprised to see larger hotel brands adopt a similar tech-enabled, dual-strategy rewards approach to Laasie, rather than the traditional tiered strategy, he said.
Several large hotel companies have started to incorporate more tailored experiences into their loyalty programs. Others are using generative AI to personalize the travel planning experience.
