Global Hotel Alliance, the U.A.E.-based alliance of independent hotel brands, has reported stronger-than-forecasted H1 2023 results, with room revenue in its GHA Discovery loyalty program skyrocketing 122% YOY by the end of the second quarter.
With H1 2023 portfolio reaching $1.2 billion, July and August are building on this performance driven by the rising number of GHA Discovery members. GHA Discovery is expected to exceed the 25-million-mark by the end of this year. This has been building since November 2022, aided by continued demand for international stays across GHA’s portfolio of 800 hotels under 40 brands in 100 countries.
The five most popular destinations in the first half of the year (in terms of total revenue growth in H1) were Thailand, Spain, the U.A.E., the Maldives and Italy.
The U.S. was the most significant feeder market for international stays in terms of contribution to room revenue.
The top five countries with the highest ADRs were St. Lucia, Israel, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Switzerland.
China’s travel comeback helped overall performance, with GHA Discovery members reaching $400 million, up 62% from H1 2022 and 4% compared to the same period in 2019.
CROSS-BRAND REVENUE
Cross-brand revenue sustained its climb in the GHA portfolio to reach $135 million in H1 2023, indicating that hotels have been receiving incremental revenue from GHA Discovery members staying and earning Discovery D$, a digital currency, at one property and redeeming them while staying at another.
Among the D$ redeemed in the first half of the year, 28% were on a cross-brand stay, bringing in new customers for hotels. Once on property, these members spent an average of 14 times the amount they redeemed.
The GHA Discovery program was revitalized 18 months ago. The reimagination saw the launch of D$, with more than D$116 million (worth $116 million) being issued. Members from China and Singapore led in redeeming D$ as a percentage of D$ issued to them in H1 2023.
NEW ADDITIONS
Another incentive for members to earn and spend D$ was the increasing options of hotel brands and properties. A total of 21 new hotels were added in the first half of 2023, ranging from luxury beach resorts to urban retreats in key urban destinations. These included many destination debuts for GHA hotel brands, such as Anantara Plaza Nice (the first Anantara in France); NH Dubai the Palm (a Middle East first for NH); and Capella Sydney (the first Capella property in Australia).
For the rest of the year, 64% of all member bookings originate from 10 countries — Australia (which claimed the top spot from its second place in 2022), Singapore, China, Germany and Thailand. GHA’s first hotels in Japan, Pan Pacific and Parkroyal hotels in Tokyo, were the most booked properties this year to date.
GHA is now entering a phase of continued growth, boosted by a multi-brand loyalty program that continues to grow its offering of new properties and destinations, said GHA CEO Chris Hartley.
“Our strong H1 numbers reflect the huge demand for leisure travel and the slow but steady recovery of business travel. With Q2 results hitting a new record and summer bookings overwhelmingly strong, coupled with the potential to capture catch-up demand from key source markets in Asia, and in particular China, the outlook for H2 is very promising, and we anticipate ending 2023 on a revenue and membership high,” Hartley said.