Our Program

I Prefer Hotel Rewards is Preferred Hotels & Resorts global loyalty program designed to capture share and increase revenues from corporate and leisure travelers.

I Prefer members are a strong base of highly profitable, loyal guests and influencers who enjoy unique experiences at luxury and lifestyle properties.

Designed to be one of the most effective programs our hotels have at their disposal and leveraging 575 member hotels globally, the I Prefer Program is the industry's largest independent hotel loyalty program.

While this course is only designed to be high-level, it is essential to know our program's success and who will help lead it at the hotel level.

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Program Delivery

The I Prefer Hotel Rewards program benefits not only our Members, but our participating hotels.

With almost 5M members and growing, our members collectively had over 500,000 stays with us in 2023.  Globally,  I Prefer delivered over $476M in revenue to our hotels. It is important to point out that our I Prefer Members, spend more, stay longer and cancel less than non-members.  This means these are the guests you want at your hotel.

Members who enroll in I Prefer through a participating hotel front desk direct, an online booking or a website or QR code, are currently finding new hotels through the program and this new incremental revenue for our hotels.   On average, a hotels cross-brand stay revenue is about 33%.  You’ll want to take note of this important statistics as we’ll review where on your I Prefer scorecard that you can find your hotels percentage.

The success of the program is dependent upon the active engagement of each participating Member property under the leadership of the General Manager and I Prefer Loyalty Ambassador.

Loyalty Ambassadors

The program's success depends upon the active engagement of each participating Member property under the leadership of the General Manager and I Prefer Loyalty Ambassador.

While there is a lot to the operations and delivery of I Prefer, each hotel has a designated I Prefer Ambassador to make the program come to life.  Please ensure you know who your I Prefer Loyalty Ambassador is and that the program's expectations are consistently being delivered.

It is imperative that our I Prefer Loyalty Ambassadors understand the program and the value it brings. They play a role in making loyalty a way of life and understand the performance metrics, revenue delivery and the reports and tools we provide to succeed.

We encourage you to complete the individual courses that follow this quick high-level overview.  

You will soon see it all ties together from a program perspective and how our hotels play an important part in growth, revenue and member satisfaction.

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The I Prefer Loyalty Ambassador should understand:

The I Prefer Hotel Rewards program and its value to the business and our members

The role of the Loyalty Ambassador and the part they play in making loyalty a way of life at the hotel

Performance measures, hotel systems, reports, and tools

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Importance of member growth

Enrollments are important to our business and your hotel because I Prefer Hotel Rewards provides the platform for building long-term profitable relationships with our most valuable guests.

It is everyone’s responsibility, regardless of location or role, to promote I Prefer Hotel Rewards.

From our global and national sales force, corporate PHR employees, and Hotel staff, we are all advocates for the I Prefer Program.

For hotels, during each guest interaction, extending I Prefer membership and selling the benefits is a win-win opportunity! Guests are motivated to join the I Prefer Program when they learn how they can personally benefit from it.

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Crafting Your I Prefer Enrollment Pitch

When you do not see an I Prefer Member number on the reservations, approach the guest with a compelling enrollment invitation.

You’ll see we’ve laid out a 20-30 second pitch for you, as a best practice, role play with your colleagues so they are confident in their I Prefer delivery and will generate more enrollments.  

A great opportunity for capturing new enrollments is those guests that book through an Online Travel Agency.  As you are aware, the cost of doing business with OTA’s are high.  By targeting these guests to enroll in I Prefer and book direct with your hotel or iprefer.com next time, we can change and influence buyer behavior and they will start earning the benefits of memberships and increase profitability at your hotel.

OPPORTUNITY

“Welcome!

I see that you are not yet an I Prefer Member.”

INTRODUCTION

“I Prefer Hotel Rewards is our guest loyalty program. By enrolling, you will have access to instant benefits at our hotel plus at over 550 hotels worldwide.”

BENEFITS

“If you enroll now, I can provide you with:
- Free internet
- A room upgrade*
- Late check-out*”

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Crucial Role

Every I Prefer Hotel around the world plays a crucial role in strengthening the loyalty of our members and delivering the benefits of the program.

I Prefer members will earn ten (10) basepoints for every one United States dollars ($1 USD) on room charges (less incidental charges, taxes and surcharges).

There are three main tiers of membership in I Prefer.

3 main tiers with 5 Standard Offerings

There are three main tiers of membership in I Prefer.

Silver

Silver, an entry-level tier offers immediate benefits to those recently enrolled. Benefits such as complimentary internet access, early check-in / late check-out, and room upgrades are a few to mention.

Gold

Gold tier members receive additional benefits including a welcome amenity and a 20% earning bonus on points.

Titanium

I Prefer Titanium members are the most loyal and profitable members. They receive all our standard outlined benefits, with an additional food & beverage offering and a 50% points bonus.

Welcome Amenities are given to our Gold and Titanium Members.  Each hotel curates their own welcome amenity for our I Prefer Members.  Focusing on how this amenity showcases your hotel or shows a high perceived value is important.  Executing the welcome amenity is just as important, is it placed in the room or delivered after arrival, these are steps that your hotel should consider.

Welcome Amenity

• Homemade treats from pastry chef
• Fruit tray with sparkling water
• Access to recreational equipment
• Reserved beach chairs or cabanas
  

Titanium members will also receive a Food and beverage offering.  This could consist of a welcome cocktail or complimentary mini bar item.  The purpose of the food and beverage offering is to drive the Member to spend additional revenue within the hotel at one of your outlets.  Hotels can offer a complimentary dessert with dinner or even a flat discount off the bill.

Food and Beverage Voucher

• Specialty / Welcome  cocktail
• Comp. mini bar item
• Comp. dessert with dinner
  

We encourage all hotels to think out of the box and curate these additional Member benefits specific to your hotel.  These curated offerings make an impact on the Members experience and the hotels satisfaction scores.

Recognition and Rewards

In addition to Recognition and Rewards, the trifecta pulling all of it together is member Redemption.

I Prefer Members can redeem their earned points for Reward Certificates.  Starting at 12,500 points, the most flexible member redemption offering turns points into a cash value certificate which can be applied directly toward room charges at any I Prefer participating property. Some locations may also accept Reward Certificates for dining, spa, and more.

Reward Nights is another redemption offering.  Starting at just 15,000 points, members can turn their points into an extraordinary travel experience when redeemed for free nights at participating properties around the world.  Reward Nights Plus: Starting at 3,000 points, members can go further faster with exclusive hotel rates using a combination of points plus cash.

MEMBER REDEMPTION OPTIONS

REWARD CERTIFICATES‍

Most flexible redemption option, dollars off credit folio
Redemption beginning at 12,500 points
EURO, USD, British Pounds

Benefit to Hotel:
Encourages ancillary spending & Hotel receives reimbursement

REWARD NIGHTS & REWARD NIGHTS PLUS

Points for a free night stay OR combo of Points & Cash
Hotels are in full control of inventory and rate code availability

Benefit to Hotel:  
Shift share & stay competitive with the comp set in your market, Member drives additional revenue to hotel, hotel receives pre-determined reimbursement.

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DELIVER BENEFITS AS PROMISED

Preparing for an I Prefer Member arrival at the hotel involves attention to detail and a commitment to making the guest's experience exceptional.

Here are several ways your hotel can prepare for their arrival.  

First I Prefer provides advanced notice of three days when a member is arriving.  This is provided on the I Prefer Pre-Arrival Email.  We’ll tell you who the Member is, their Tier level and confirmation number.

The hotel should treat these notices as a prompt to pre-blocking rooms, providing upgrades when available, and ensuring amenities are prepared for Gold and Titanium Members.

Additional resources

Additional resources to help prepare for Member arrival and recognizing members is using the Associate Reference card.  This guides hotels to different touch points during the Members stay, including check out.

Hotels can leverage either pre-written welcome letters to add a special touch of recognition for Members or create their own hand written notes on hotel branded stationary.

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MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

I Prefer deploys several different types of email marketing communications to our entire contactable audience.

Our promotional marketing helps increase various offer visibility, drives new bookings and revenue to our hotels around the world. They also create awareness about our brand.

These creative and well-executed promotions sets our hotel portfolio apart from our competitors.

Redemption Offers

Redemption marketing for I Prefer involves creating strategies to encourage and motivate members to redeem their accumulated points.

The goal is to increase Member engagement, loyalty, and satisfaction.

Having members redeem their points at your hotel leads to greater spend through either additional night bookings and ancillary spend.  This is beneficial for your food and beverage outlets, spa and other activities you may offer.

Groups

I Prefer Planner

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I Prefer Planner is designed to capture share and increase revenues from the groups and meetings segment.

To gain brand loyalty from customers, I Prefer Planner should be part of the hotel daily sales process, as it is with Preferred Hotel Group’s Global salesforce.

Targeted towards both the full-time meeting planner as well as the part-time/occasional planner, members enrolled into the program use one number for both their individual travel needs and meetings.

Members who book a group or meeting at a participating I Prefer Hotel can earn points. The contracted group or meeting must have a minimum of 10 guest rooms on peak to qualify. The hotel should include in their sales contract with the planner that points have been requested at the time of signing. Members will earn five (5) points for every one United States dollar ($1 USD) on eligible actualized rooms revenue (less taxes, gratuity, service charges), with the maximum amount of 500,000 points per event.

It is at the discretion of the Hotel to offer additional point concessions based on the consumed food & beverage, meeting room rental or customer/volume/potential business or individual program. Examples include: signing bonus points, promotional points based on arrival (low occupancy/need periods), and competitive offerings to win business or steal from the competition.

Members will earn five (5) points for every one United States dollar ($1 USD) on eligible actualized rooms revenue (less taxes, gratuity, service charges), with a maximum amount of 500,000 points per event.

It is at the discretion of the Hotel to offer additional point concessions based on the consumed food & beverage, meeting room rental or customer/volume of potential business or program.  

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