In a direct challenge to the dominant loyalty programs of OTAs, credit card companies, and hotel brands, Cloudbeds, the hospitality management system built for ambitious hoteliers, and Journey, a loyalty platform for independent hotels and private residences, today announced a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership designed to give independent hoteliers within the Cloudbeds Collection access to the commercial power of a major hotel group, without surrendering their independence, brand identity, or guest relationships.
This partnership represents an industry-first shared ecosystem that gives the Cloudbeds Collection the power of a global loyalty network. By integrating Journey’s AI-driven loyalty engine directly into the Cloudbeds platform, independent properties can now offer a unified rewards currency designed to rival the world’s largest hotel programs while preserving the identity, freedom, and guest relationships that make them independent.
A New Era of Sovereign Loyalty
- Direct-First Competition: The partnership is built to help independent hoteliers reclaim the guest relationship and grow direct bookings. By offering Instant Rewards and Experience Multipliers exclusively through direct channels, hotels can avoid high-commission booking platforms and give travelers a stronger reason to book direct.
- The AI Guest Engine: Unlike static loyalty programs, Journey uses AI-powered intelligence to help hoteliers better understand guest behavior, preferences, and intent. Cloudbeds Collection properties can use these insights to deliver more personal, relevant stays that build lasting loyalty. This includes “Known by Journey” – a conversational interface between guests and hotels to gain deeper insights into how guests like to travel, what details matter most, and the small touches that drive real loyalty.
- Accessible Sophistication: Guest engagement technology has traditionally been reserved for the brands with the biggest budgets and most complex tech stacks. This partnership enables boutique and independent hotels to benefit from advanced loyalty and guest experience infrastructure
“Guest experience has never mattered more,” said Rafael Blanes, Chief Growth Officer at Cloudbeds. “The Cloudbeds Collection has always represented properties with real ambition, the kind that want to deliver something distinctive, on their own terms. Through our partnership with Journey, we’re giving those hoteliers the intelligence and infrastructure to turn every stay into a reason to come back, and to compete with anyone on the experience they deliver.”
“For fifty years, an independent hotel could only get chain-scale loyalty by giving up what made it independent. That tradeoff is over,” said John Sutton, CEO and Founder of Journey. “With Cloudbeds, we are giving the world’s best independent hotels the commercial power of a global brand while they keep their identity, their guests, and their soul. This is how the Independent Super-Brand gets built. The chains taught the world to stay in the same room over and over. We reward people for choosing the places worth remembering, and for the first time, independents set the terms.”
