The Global Hotel Alliance wants to have a more significant presence in North America in an ongoing campaign to strengthen its loyalty program, GHA Discovery.
Christopher Hartley, CEO of the Dubai-based network, said it is that program that has driven recent growth, and he would like to offer its 2.5 million members in North America more options domestically and provide the 26 million members internationally with more opportunity for stays in this region.
GHA was formed in 2004 and was patterned after airline alliances like Star Alliance and OneWorld, he said. The network’s mission is helping members to compete with major global players and to become less dependent on high-cost third parties for distribution.
GHA calls itself the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands with 45 flags operating more than 850 properties with more than 146,000 rooms in over 100 countries. The alliance’s “sweet spot” is privately owned groups with 10 to 20 luxury hotels, Hartley said.
Europe constitutes GHA’s largest presence with 45% of hotels and 49% of loyalty members. Asia is next, followed by Australia and New Zealand; then Africa; then Central, South America and the Caribbean; and finally North America.
The majority of members are privately owned and owner-operated, and GHA provides them with the tools, technology and marketing reach that would be difficult to access on their own, Hartley said. The network also has a dedicated sales services team that manages global relationships and preferential agreements with major travel management companies to drive corporate business.
Among the alliance’s differentiators is that its shareholders are themselves the hotel asset owners so the network’s primary focus is on maximizing profitability for the hotels and not for the organization, he said. GHA levies only a fraction of the fees of the big brands or online travel agencies.
Kristi Gole, executive vice president of strategy, said the fee structure helps the network win more member brands, which realize they need a loyalty program to compete and see that GHA provides that benefit at a low cost while allowing them to keep their identity and individuality. These operators realize the value of the member base and its cross-brand activity, technology that connects distribution systems seamlessly and a competitive consumer program that is tailored to the needs of each market.
The loyalty program generated $2.3 billion in revenue and 10 million room nights in 2023, Gole said. It now boasts 30 million members and is touted as the world’s largest loyalty program for independent hotel brands.
GHA would consider a partnership with a larger player to facilitate penetration of the U.S. market, but only if it made sense for the Discovery program and stakeholders, and if it added value for members, Hartley said. Partnerships have already been developed with Regent Seven Seas Cruises and the Plum Guide to offer members more choices in the U.S. Plum Guide has an inventory of over 3,000 vacation homes domestically.
GHA had been growing moderately until the “re-imagination” of its loyalty program in 2021 and the introduction of the Discovery Dollars rewards currency, he said. Depending on a guest’s tier status, they earn back 4.7% of their eligible spend across the hotel — including, room, dining, spa and golf charges — in Discovery dollars, which are meant to be equivalent to $1. If a guest has 10 Discovery Dollars in their digital wallet, it’s valued at $10 and may simply be applied to the bill at checkout.
With GHA Discovery, members are empowered to earn Discovery Dollars at one hotel and redeem them at any property or brand in the alliance. Total cross-brand revenue reached $100.7 million in the third quarter of 2024.
Harley said this reflects “members’ growing engagement with the loyalty program’s choice of over 40 independent hotel brands.”
Members can book hotels either on GHA’s website or app or on member brands’ websites, where they can access all GHA-affiliated hotels. For example, while Kempinski Hotels does not have a location in London, a customer entering “London” in the Kempinski.com search bar will see a list of the “GHA Discovery Partner Hotels” in that city. The API allows browsers to search dates and availability on that same site, and if they want to go deeper in the booking process, they’ll be redirected to the hotel’s home website with a message advising them of that transfer.
Hotels only pay for performance, specifically when loyalty members stay at their properties, Gole said. There are no fixed fees and no fee for the enrollment stay. The goal is to drive repeat stays booked on the most profitable channels, which typically are the direct ones. If that occurs, GHA charges a small fee to cover operational costs and the reimbursement of the Discovery Dollar issued to the member on that stay.
Currently, Discovery membership makes up around 30% of occupancy across the network with close to 50% of occupancy in markets like Bangkok and Singapore, Hartley said. With the loyalty program providing momentum, the network seeks to grow in North America where there are 39 member hotels, which include brands like Viceroy, Outrigger, Corinthia , NH Collection, Doyle Collection and Lore Group.
Aside from its other criteria, GHA maintains a standards protocol that includes a quarterly measurement matrix as an internal scorecard that tracks key areas and ensures quality levels and performance, Hartley said. Regular reports and customer surveys feed into a matrix for a balanced assessment. When brands fall below a certain threshold, GHA works with them to get back on track. All brands and CEOs can see the overall standings so the process often becomes a healthy competition for first place.
GHA hotels are mainly luxury and upscale, he said, but with NH Hotels entering the alliance, “we also now have midscale properties especially for business travel in the portfolio.”