San Francisco-based lifestyle hotel operator Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants on Wednesday launched a new loyalty program called Kimpton Karma Rewards, designed to recognize and reward members beyond stay transactions, as well as a re-imagined website (KimptonHotels.com) to make it easier to explore and book its hotels.
Kimpton Karma acknowledges the different ways members interact with the Kimpton brand, in addition to granting credits toward free nights earned through hotel stays. With Kimpton Karma, which replaces the brand’s InTouch program, members may be recognized for things like attending wine hour, mentioning an individual hotel or restaurant on social media or dining at one of Kimpton’s 66 restaurants, bars and lounges. The new program provides members with a number of personalized “delights and perks” starting as early as Tier One.
Kimpton Karma’s proprietary formula considers brand engagement such as booking directly on KimptonHotels.com, traveling with a pet and social media interaction, all of which have the potential to boost members’ Kimpton Karma and help a member move up in tier progression. Based on engagement and stay history, members move up in tiers, and each tier level provides associated personalized perks and experiences.
“We’re trying to move people further along in their loyalty to us by giving them thresholds that are not as large,” Mike DeFrino, chief operating officer at Kimpton told HOTELS in an interview last week. “So thresholds for the levels within Kimpton Karma will be much smaller and people will be able to get greater rewards if they move forward. Next, we’ll probably introduce some sort of a points system so that we’ll be able to distribute free rooms and comp stays more easily across the country.”
DeFrino added that he knows Kimpton can’t beat the bigger brands in the points business, but as it grows to toward a company that will soon have 80 hotels it has a broader opportunity to compete. “We think we can beat them in the experience game and this tool, Kimpton Karma, and this software and all that we’ve put into developing it will help us with that experience delivery, that personal experience delivery and that’s really what our program is about.”
DeFrino told HOTELS Kimpton invested about US$1.1 million in the new program development process, and that does not include the cost of the team managing the process.
The payback: DeFrino said Kimpton expects to raise the number of people from the first stay to the second stay by 25%, and from the second stay to the third stay by 25%. “That is our biggest goal is to get people off that first and second stay mark and become loyal,” he added. “A lot of our corporate individual travelers and leisure travelers are ripe for that sort of indoctrination further into the Kimpton network of hotels.”
More about the program
In addition, with every stay, members enjoy perks such as free Wi-Fi, a “Raid the Bar” voucher (a US$10 credit toward a great experience at the adjacent Kimpton restaurant bar or a treat from the mini bar), in-room spa service discounts, a complimentary treat from Kimpton chefs, customized welcome amenities, room upgrades based on availability, occasional fun surprises, like a make-your-own cocktail station with a guest’s favorite spirit or sports-themed treats with the guest’s hometown team as inspiration.
Kimpton Karma will enable employees to provide more personalized perks and surprises for loyalists based on what they learn about the guest over time. By investing in a custom-built customer relationship management (CRM) system behind the scenes, Kimpton has further empowered employees to capture preferences, background and details about guests in real-time, so they can continue to create memorable and personalized experiences.
New website: KimptonHotels.com
The new KimptonHotels.com represents a design evolution and modernization of the Kimpton spirit and style, integrating multiple new tools to create a seamless, efficient and intuitive guest experience, while also connecting emotionally with guests through rich and vibrant imagery. The new site aims to be a digital living room for the brand, which mimics what a guest feels when checking into a Kimpton hotel.
To create more efficiency and ease of use, the site now provides timely and relevant information about specific properties, live information feeds on details such as weather, time of day and more. It’s now faster and easier for guests to research boutique hotels and book a room, meeting or event than ever before. Designed with Kimpton’s food-loving guests in mind, dedicated restaurant pages have been introduced so that each venue will have its own page complete with images, and information about the food, concept and chef, providing a glimpse of what one would experience at a Kimpton restaurant.
A key aspect of the site is its support of Kimpton Karma. The revamped KimptonHotels.com features a devoted loyalty section for visitors to discover Kimpton Karma, sign up for the program, receive updates and messages through a personalized message feed, as well as feature a customized experience once logged in where Kimpton Karma members can check their tier level, view and manage reservations, book a table, track program rewards and much more in a highly visual display.
The site is responsive and optimized for any device and screen size, making it easy to view and book on-the-go. Revamped blog: “Life is Suite”
The new blog, which re-launched in June, provides readers with a more engaging and accessible way to explore topics that Kimpton believes makes life enjoyable, like local tips for things to do and see around Seattle from a bike, and recipes from Kimpton chefs for great summer pastas. Life Is Suite has more than a dozen regularly contributing writers with original features, Kimpton news and videos.
All content is mobile optimized and accessible across different digital devices. In addition to the new blog, Kimpton launched its new Pinterest presence to offer even more ideas and inspiration on design, style and entertaining.