Starwood Hotels and Resorts is launching a loyalty programme aimed at meetings and events bookers.
Starwood Preferred Guest Pro (SPG Pro), which is an extension of the Starwood Preferred Guest programme (SPG), will offer meetings and travel buyers elite status, upgrades and Starpoints for B2B business booked.
It will debut in October in all of Starwood’s 1,200 properties worldwide.
Starwood president and CEO Frits van Paasschen said that SPG Pro was designed to leverage the strength of SPG, which drives more than 50 per cent of the company’s occupancy.
“With SPG Pro, we’re focusing our powerful loyalty lens on B2B to cultivate ever stronger and more personal relationships with our global customers who deliver guests to our hotels,” van Paasschen said.
The $30 million launch of SPG Pro is Starwood’s largest and most expensive B2B marketing programme in its history.
Starwood sales organisation, senior VP, Christie Hicks said SPG Pro is a “compelling” way to reward global customers and provide more personalised service on property and “really understand the totality of the business our partners influence,”
“SPG Pro will also help us extend our reach beyond our managed accounts to attract new businesses, regional organisations and a next generation of travel professionals,” she added.
Starwood.com