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Le Méridien Paints it Purple
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide strongly encourages its associates all over the world to actively promote its award winning loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest. From the 1st of August till the 30th of November, each and every Starwood property in the Europe, Africa and Middle East division, was asked to select an SPG awareness week whereas the hotel's employees were provided with the right tools to improve their knowledge and share their commitment and passion with colleagues and guests alike.
"Loyalty programs have never been as important or as popular as there are today" explains Steven Taylor, Starwood Marketing Vice-Director for Europe, Africa and Middle-East. "Over 60% of travelers' decisions are significantly influenced by their memberships to loyalty programs. With this in mind, we can say that SPG is actually influencing millions of customers' decisions on an ongoing basis. It is becoming the core of our business"
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide knows that it makes complete business sense to dedicate time and resources on driving loyalty. They have embraced the fact that customers' acquisition is a much more expensive form of marketing than guests' retention. "Our team's response to the SPG awareness week has been amazingly enthusiastic so far", states Franco Vella, General Manager of Le Méridien St Julians Hotel & Spa. "Our associates have come up with brilliant ideas to deliver the SPG promises far beyond expectations."
The launch of Le Méridien SPG awareness week started with a bang last Monday, with a Guest Cocktail party proudly representing the colours of SPG and involving a dedicated Management Team, available to present customers with all the advantages the program has to offer. All throughout the week, hotel guests checking in at the front desk of the 5 star hotel were greeted by enthusiastic receptionists wearing SPG T-shirts purposely printed for the occasion. All of them were offered a delicious home-made SPG cupcake as a welcome treat, prepared with passion by Le Méridien kitchen brigade. Maintenance and housekeeping departments worked hand in hand to bring the SPG theme alive throughout the premises: purple balloons filled with helium, nicely covered up the ceiling of the hotel's lobby, whilst the façade was decorated with a huge Starwood Preferred Guest banner hanging down from the top of the building. At night, passers-by on Balluta Bay promenade could see the whole front of the hotel prettily lighting up with a purple halo.
"There are a lot of loyalty programs out there", says Franco Vella, "but the unique guest experiences offered by SPG surpassed by far any scheme that can be found in the industry. We fully embrace the concept at Le Méridien St Julians and we strive at delivering against the promises we make and the benefits we offer in our hotel. The scope of the exercise was not only to get our associates involved but also to demonstrate that we have a passionate and creative team that does not hesitate to go the extra mile to exceed our guests' expectations."
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