If Marriott Rewards were a country, it would be the 12th biggest in the world.
Marriott, which acquired Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 2016, this week announced that the three Marriott International loyalty programmes (Marriott Rewards, SPG & The Ritz-Carlton Rewards) now have a unified set of benefits and currency and have a combined 110 million members globally. The programme covers 29 brands and more than 6,700 participating hotels in 130 countries and territories.
It is now 37 years since American Airlines created the first loyalty programme in travel, Aadvantage. The Marriott announcement means that American has finally lost its first mover advantage.
Our chart this week looks at the loyalty landscape and shows just how many travellers are now part of a loyalty programme at either an airline or hotel group.
Some of the programmes have grown exponentially in recent years.
We looked at hotel loyalty programmes back in 2015 and some of the programmes have grown substantially since then. In mid 2015, Hilton's HHonors scheme had 44 million members; it has 70 million now. Accors LeClub had 16 million back then, against 41 million now.
As suppliers focus more on building direct relationships with their customers, we can expect to see these numbers continue to grow sharply.
