Renae Trimble –a Loyalty Leader who believes people and partnerships are the power behind a loyalty program’s success

In this Loyalty Leader interview (#36) Renae Trimble – CEO at Accor Plus shares insights behind the success of the Accor Plus travel subscription program which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary in 2024.

An innovative initiative back in 1994, Accor Plus has adapted over time and Renae shares the past, the present and the future of the program.

Renae is an experienced leader in the travel and loyalty industry and has a clear and present passion for the power of subscription loyalty programs, the people behind a program’s success and the potential of partnerships augmenting a loyalty program proposition.

I have had the privilege of knowing Renae since 2013 and she is my first return Loyalty Leader, having interviewed her back in 2020.

Renae’s wisdom is valuable to all loyalty program practitioners and this interview ended with one of my favourite ‘loyalty thoughts’ to fit on a billboard.

Enjoy!

1. So, who is Renae (outside of work) + a little on your work biography

I’m originally from Nambucca Heads (mid-north coast of NSW), moved to Sydney after school and have been there since. I’ve been in hospitality and hotels for most of my career and I've been with Accor for almost 17 years and wow, it hasn't felt like that!

Perhaps because I've had eight different roles which keeps me motivated as I do love the travel industry, which means I believe I have the best job in the world.

I get to travel. I love the experience of travel. I love food, wine and sport and combining those with travel, I’m in heaven. I like anything active as I'm not very good at sitting still for too long. My reading habits are contained to holidays and recently read three books in a week – thrillers for me!

2. Tell us about the Accor Plus program. Any stats you can share?

In September 2024 Accor Plus celebrated 30 years, a huge milestone in the hotel travel subscription industry. Since its inception in 1994 the company has dominated the travel subscription loyalty space.

I've been in the business a long time, and this program was ahead of its time.

If you think about how much we're talking about subscriptions today compared to 30 years ago, it's significant. In fact, this program was conceived in Australia in 1994, introduced largely at as a food and beverage program. It was so successful; we did not anticipate how much business it was giving the accommodation side of the business as well.

And that's how it became a ‘rooms, food and beverage’ offering for members. It was so successful here in the Pacific it was replicated into Asia. And it has continued to grow.

In the past two years alone, membership has grown over 43% and those that engaging with paid subscription models staying longer as members, spending more and acting as brand advocates.

There are now approximately 455,000 members and the program has seen a significant increase in engagement, with members staying more than 2.3 million nights in Accor hotels in 2023 alone, and expectations for this to hit 3M+ by the end of this year.

Also, Accor Plus members stay 5x more hotel nights than non-members at Accor hotels.

We have a very high retention rate, although that shifts depending on the years of membership. Once we have members for five years and over, we have a better ability to retain the members into the program. However, in those first few years, you must work particularly hard to make sure that the members see the benefit, the value, particularly because they're spending money for this membership.

3. What is the most unique element of the program?

Something I think we have done particularly well is how we have merged our global free program ALL - Accor Live Limitless with our paid membership program Accor Plus.

This give our members the choice to join the free program and then if they're a frequent traveller or if they're going on holiday and if it's right for them, then there's a perfect opportunity to move into Accor Plus membership.

As an Accor Plus member you automatically become an ALL member at silver status with the 20 status boosts.

So, I think, the two programs coming together is both unique and a real benefit for members with the choice for what works for them.

4. If you had to choose the most important measures of success for your program, what would they be?

Retention rate. That's the important number.

Do you think there is a difference in focusing on retention vs churn?

I think the subtle but important difference is the focuse on the timing of how long people have been in the membership and the different stages they're at in that life cycle.

I think in those first 1 to 5 years, you're really looking at churn because it's bigger volume. How do you reduce churn and what does that look like? And what are the key drivers in year one, year two, etc. and what actions do we need to take to mitigate that.

Once you pass that key period, it's about the retention of those members ongoing because they're already in and they see value unless you obviously have some anomalies where circumstances change.

We continue to listen to members to understand where we need to continue to evolve or where we need to go.

We recently conducted a survey of over 7000 members across 11 of key Asia Pacific markets to find out what they look for from paid loyalty membership programs in travel, which revealed that stay benefits (31.2%) and the price of membership (30.9%) came in at the number one and two considerations, showing the attractiveness of deals such as pay less & stay longer. Accommodation discounts (10.6%) and Food and Drink Benefits (7.7%) were ranked third and fourth.

5. What do you think is the most underestimated force behind your program’s performance?

I think the hotels and the brands. We cannot underestimate that. I don’t think we would be successful if we didn't have the footprint.

6. What are some of the challenges you face on an ongoing basis to keep the program relevant/fresh/thriving (internally and externally) and how do you overcome these?

The challenge is to keep innovating, to stay ahead because I think there are going to be a lot of businesses that want a cut of the subscription pie. And they're seeing that opportunity now. So, the challenge is going to be the pace and how do we keep growing?

I think the other one for us is the shift to an omnichannel business and with that the tech and creating a seamless journey. That'll keep evolving. Once we do something, there'll be a new thing.

Externally, I think it's going to be customers valuing the different opportunities as the travel subscription market becomes more prevalent and open to more options.

**7. How do you create Joyalty* Moments of Magic for your members (surprise and delight)**

There are many opportunities where we're able to in a hotel provide those surprise and delight moments with the information that we have on our members and can tailor or personalise their experience.

And I believe our hotels do that exceptionally well.

I still think there's a big opportunity for us to be even more personalised in how we do that moving forward, just in terms of the communication.

Something else I like to do personally is I respond to all message I get from members, and it's weird because I get so many messages direct. And then the responses I get back thanking me for responding, they seem surprised!

I know it's not a surprise and delight moment, but it feels like it is, you know, a simple thank you. It probably has surprised me a little bit in the last couple of years however I think it's really important because it also gives me an idea of what's happening and what’s important to members and if it is a challenging issue, then I can diffuse it pretty quickly. Even an apology with a quick action makes all the difference.

8. If you could start again with a blank strategy canvas, what would you do differently

I became CEO of Accor Plus in the 28th year of a 30-year journey, so I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer that question. I'm not sure we would have done too much differently.

I think we are where we are and for me it's what we do going forward that matters the most.

I know we could always be quicker on systems and personalisation. Also being quicker shifting into other channels. We're not in a bad spot, however, it's more about the opportunity ahead. You learn from mistakes that you make along the way and just get on with it.

9. What advice would you give to brands thinking about a loyalty program?

1.You've got to be in it for the long haul and it won't be easy.

2.You need good systems and good data.

3.You need to have a multi-channel approach.

4.You must be in it for the people, the members. Of course, you want to be able to deliver for your business, but you also want to be able to deliver something valuable to your customer.

10. What’s the biggest frustration you have with loyalty programs?

When it's not easy to interact with the program.

So, if I can't access my account quickly or it’s confusing, then I'm out. It's got to be simple and easy to access my account, know where I am at with rewards and what do I need to do?

Anything that makes it too hard, I'm out.

11. What the secret sauce to making a good program awesome?

A desirable brand and passionate people.

12. What do you think is creeping up on programs that could disrupt them for better or worse?

Competition. There's a lot more. And that could be good or bad. Depends how agile you are as a business and if you're delivering because it's changing so quickly.

I think the pace of change in technology is going to continue to be disruptive.

So, how do you stay ahead of that? Having a solid strategy for a three-year period with some flexibility to manage so much change. You need strong partnerships and an agile mindset.

13. What are three important skills a loyalty program marketer needs?

They must have a customer first approach. Every conversation has to answer - what is right for the customer?
Being able to manage pace. You’ve got to move quick
Be a good listener and understand the data.

14. If we are chatting again in (say) 2 years’ time, what do you predict would be the hot topic related to loyalty programs?

I might be biased however I think subscriptions will be hot especially in the travel, hotel and food and beverage industry. While I know there are many across streaming, retail and others, I think in our industry they are now starting to become hot.

With that will be the focus on partners as we are continuing to forge new partnerships across many industry verticals.

Partnerships can take time, and you need to be patient to make sure the partnership will last.

Understanding the relevance of partners to your customer base is key as well, maybe it’s not as much about car rental as it could be e-bikes!