What’s in a loyalty program name? Perhaps a new hotel name.

Posted by Bill Brohaugh on September 27, 2011

0 comments | 853 reads

A couple of interesting notes in a recent hotel conversion:

First, Kimpton Hotels has taken over the former Se Hotel in San Diego, and has relaunched it under a new name. That’s to be expected in such transactions. But the motivation for the name change, at least the way it was described, is an interesting one: It was loyalty-program inspired.

Kimpton’s frequent-guest program is called InTouch. And Niki Leondakis, President and CEO of Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, is quoted in SignOn San Diego, “We’re bringing our loyalty program with a million members, so we thought it’s fitting to change the name.” So, the new hotel is called something like InTouch Suites?

Well, no. It will be called the Hotel Palomar San Diego, to put it in line with other Kimpton properties in the InTouch program that sport the Palomar name–in cities ranging from San Francisco to Chicago to Washington, D.C. Still, it’s good to know that a loyalty program can have such power.

The second thing that caught my eye is a guest perk–perhaps not specifically related to the InTouch program, but maybe it should be if it’s not. From the Kimpton release about adding the Se Hotel: “The hotel also offers guests a myriad of luxurious and lifestyle-oriented touches, such as free Wi-Fi, a hosted evening wine hour, wellness and fitness options, personalized preferences through its Kimpton InTouch loyalty program, and even a companion goldfish upon request.”

I’m not sure about the name of the goldfish. Any guesses?

Bill Brohaugh

As managing editor, Bill Brohaugh is responsible for the day-to-day management and editorial for the COLLOQUY magazine and colloquy.com, the most comprehensive loyalty marketing web site in the world. In addition to writing many of the feature articles, Bill develops the editorial calendar, hires and manages outside writers and researchers and oversees print and online production. He also contributes to COLLOQUY’s weekly email Market Alert and the COLLOQUYTalk series of white papers.

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