Roda Hotels & Resorts, a young and independent hotel management company with a growing portfolio of iconic and unique properties in Dubai, has chosen to partner with Plan B Solutions, a company that has been pioneering with an innovative alliance-based rewards and loyalty programme – The Elite Club.
The Elite club is a food and beverage loyalty platform, combining a smartphone application with a loyalty card that groups over 200 independent and internationally branded hotels and resorts in 15 countries under one loyalty umbrella. The program currently has more than 23,000 members who enjoy attractive discounts and benefits in the participating hotels.
Khalil Ibrahim Al Sayegh, chairman of Roda Hotels & Resorts recognised a broader scope for the partnership that the Elite Club had already established with its existing hotel partners. “We were looking for ways to drive more direct relationships with our restaurant patrons through an innovative loyalty and rewards program, so we’ve decided to adopt the Elite Club as if it’s our own programme and curate new memberships within our restaurants and hotels.”
“We evaluated several options including the idea of starting our own “selfish” program like the bigger chains. However, given the size and spread of our portfolio along with all the challenges of building genuine brand loyalty in today’s market, we became convinced that an alliance-driven approach will be the most attractive option to our guests”.
Elie Younes, founder and managing director of Plan B Solutions and the Elite Club, states that “There is no better time than now for hotels to rethink loyalty”. A few years ago, Younes and his team has recognised the opportunity to offer five and four star hotels an innovative platform which allows them to create incentive for repeat business. He states, “My previous experience allowed me to recognize the limitations of the one-dimensional approach to loyalty which most international and independent hotel chains have in place. It was clear to us that the future of loyalty is all about finding new ways, through technology and innovative thinking, to create real and holistic value for our members and, ultimately, to our hotel partners.”
“Not only did Roda Hotels recognise the value of our platform, they were first to take the partnership a step further by choosing to market and offer their guests the Elite Club memberships in their own hotels. With Roda’s portfolio of truly iconic properties and future projects, we see this as a historic day as it marks the beginning of unique collaboration with limitless boundaries,”
said Younes.