Northstar

NEWSLINE RESEARCH | Words Loren G. Edelstein Jan-Feb 2016 7 meetings & conventions • mcmag-asia.com Yes No Varies Not sure 65% 17% 14% 4% Yes, very Somewhat Not very Not at all 8% 38% 27% 27% Yes, greatly Somewhat Very little Not at all N/A 14% 29% 22% 31% 4% 50% Indifferent 40% Pleased 10% Displeased > Do you belong to hotel frequent-guest programmes? n    46% Yes, greatly n   42% Somewhat n    9% Very little n   3% Not at all > Do you belong to airline frequent-flyer programmes? > Do they influence your personal air travel decisions? n   95% Yes n   5% No > Do they influence your personal lodging decisions? n    41% Yes, greatly n   44% Somewhat n    11% Very little n   4% Not at all n    94% Yes n   6% No > Does your organisation allow you to personally benefit from planner loyalty points earned from meetings? > Do hotels' planner loyalty programmes influence your site- selection decisions? > Do loyalty programmes make it difficult to steer attendees to selected hotels? The Lure of Loyalty Programmes HOW POINTS AFFECT DECISIONS; VIEWS ON HOTEL MEGA-MERGER Points programmes steer personal travel decisions, say the majority of 182 respondents to a recent M&C poll. One-third admit planner points influence their site-selection decisions, too. The merger of Marriott and Starwood has some worried about the blending of loyalty programmes, among other concerns. Read comments at mcmag.com/research. READ MORE VERBATIM COMMENTS AT MCMAG. COM/RESEARCH-MERGER HOW DO YOU FEEL about Marriott's plans to combine Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards loyalty programmes? IN YOUR WORDS "It will be as clean as the mess with the combining of United and Continental." "The hotels can lose a lot of goodwill with their loyal customers if they do it wrong."

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