The other day, I saw some industry analysis suggesting that loyalty is about recognition. I had to suppress a laugh, mostly out of weary familiarity. The thing is, loyalty always was about recognition. Before the proliferation of card-carrying programs and digitized point systems, genuine hospitality was built on actively knowing the guest, paying attention, and recognizing their value and custom in profoundly human, “non-point” ways.
It sounds like a radical idea now, doesn’t it? How could you possibly recognize someone without a tiered status, a plastic card, or a balance of digital credits? Well, that was the secret sauce of hospitality. It was the intuitive knowledge held by a great front-of-house manager, the perfect drink waiting at the bar, the subtle room upgrade tailored to a known preference—gestures that demonstrated we valued them, not just their wallet share.
Then, recognition became a transaction. The guest transformed from a name and a face into a number, a card, and a calculation of how many points we could throw at them to demonstrate our “appreciation.” Throw in a few ego-boosting tiers—Gold, Platinum, Diamond—and we convinced ourselves we were still delivering loyalty. We swapped genuine connection for a gamified reward system.
The irony is that the best hotels, the ones that truly excel at the art of high-touch service, often don’t rely on any complex, card-carrying loyalty system. They don’t need the digital scaffolding. They know who their great customers are because they are still paying attention. They are still recognizing their value in creative, meaningful ways that transcend the mere exchange of points for a future stay.
This isn’t about throwing points at the problem and constantly raising the bar for the “reward” necessary to maintain a customer’s business. That’s retention through bribery. True loyalty—the kind that builds long-term, emotional connection—is built on personalized, proactive recognition that says, “We see you, we know you, and we value you.” It’s a human commitment, not a software feature. We need to get back to that.
Life is so tech. But genuine loyalty is profoundly analog.
Mark Fancourt
