On the 1st June, SilverNeedle is launching SilverNeedle Select, its new loyalty program designed to reward frequent guests with a range of professional and leisure benefits. The program has the regular features you would expect of a loyalty programme, earning “Silver Dollars” based on spend, and redemption for room nights. However, this rewards program was designed to do more.
In conversation with Mr Iqbal Jumabhoy, Chief Executive Officer & Group Managing Director of SilverNeedle Hospitality, we learned of SilverNeedles objective to use technology to democratise access to hotels.
“We studied different hotel loyalty programmes available globally then de-constructed them and adapted their best practices. We then devised an innovative 100% eco-friendly frequent guest rewards programme that revolves around our guests and their lifestyles,” said Jumabhoy.
Every guest of any of the seven brands within the SilverNeedle group becomes a member automatically on their first directly booked stay. SilverDollars are rewarded based on total spend, including food and beverage, not just accommodation. SilverDollars can be redeemed not only for future stays, but also for non-SilverNeedle products such as retail vouchers, gift certificates and petrol cards. At the higher end, guests can redeem SilverDollars for major events such as the F1 Grand Prix, Grand Slam events or movie premiers.
SilverNeedle has also introduced a gamification element to the programme, offering milestone rewards or “Treats” based on stays, including room upgrades, late checkouts, free dining, and ultimately a $100 gift voucher if you achieve all 6 treats within a 24 month period.
Following the introduction of advanced technology at the NEXT Hotel Brisbane, SilverNeedle has extended their Guest Cloud platform to SilverNeedle Select. The entire loyalty program resides in the cloud, so it is accessible through any device, to the guest and the hotel or corporate team anywhere. There are no plastic cards, no enrollment forms and no joining fees.
As the guest’s Select account is virtual, it allows SilverNeedle to credit the guest with vouchers outside the earned SilverDollars. For example, the company can add a voucher on arrival for a drink in the bar or a voucher for a return stay based on length of loyalty.
“Everything about SilverNeedle Select has been designed to be convenient and easy for our guests. At the same time, this new programme allows us to better understand, engage and interact with our guests in a more responsive way thereby enabling us to cater to their changing needs,” added Mr Jumabhoy. “The programme takes guest recognition to new levels with welcome rewards via mobile messaging, personalised welcome videos, secured e-Wallets and individual profiling, such as The Road Warrior, The Romantic and The Eco-Traveller. that guests can identify with.”
To deliver the program, SilverNeedle partnered with CPR Vision Management, a Singapore-based digital and Loyalty Marketing agency. “SilverNeedle Select is refreshingly different from traditional rewards or loyalty programmes,” said Mr Cameron Richards, Chief Executive Officer of CPR Vision Management.
“The centralised digital marketing platform houses data from all hotel brands globally enabling SilverNeedle Hospitality to have a full 360 degree view of their guests. This helps improve guest engagement while the SilverNeedle Select architecture allows them to use targeted, personalised and relevant multi-channel content to deliver what their guests want on demand as well as provide innovative “surprise and delight” rewards,” added Mr Richards.
The thinking behind the program was as follows:
The program was devised and built from scratch, leveraging cloud infrastructure, with a digitally focussed interface. It was also designed to deliver to the evolving guest needs and demands and was integrated with the SilverNeedle App that already allows end to end customer journey engagement.
