In recent years, a multi-brand strategy has become an inevitable path for the scale of the hotel industry, achieving full coverage of consumer groups through differentiated brand positioning. Delonix Group and its membership system Betterwood have consistently followed the 'brand-first' approach, abstracting a cognitive concept that resonates with consumers in terms of value proposition, sparking the desire for consumption.

Based on this Group's philosophy, 10 brands under the Delonix Group, each with its unique features, recently empowered its Betterwood membership system through the launch of the 'Brand Month' initiative. It is collaborating with different hotel brands to create outstanding consumer experiences and initiate a battle for hotel industry membership.

The 'Brand Month' Event

The 'Brand Month' Event kicked off with Betterwood, offering a series of unique activities to its members. Members could sign up for the gathering event through the App or directly redeem them using loyalty points, enjoying a complimentary 3 days journey.

During this cultural exploration at Grand House, a humanistic hotel brand under Betterwood, members experienced an immersive stage performance set against the backdrop of the hotel's ancient architecture.

The dinner featured local delicacies, creating a unique gastronomic experience in the ancient courtyard. Following the banquet, a lively market opened, adding to the festive atmosphere. The next day, the hotel arranged special activities such as lectures on ancient architecture, traditional archery, pot-throwing ceremony, and letterpress printing, receiving unanimous praise from the members.

Some members expressed that compared to a regular stay, the 'Brand Month' event provided a deeper understanding of the stories behind the hotel brand, making the experience more meaningful.

Grand House, the venue for this event, focuses on the 'beauty of ancient architecture.' After a decade of effort and an investment of seven hundred million, the hotel relocated and restored three endangered ancient buildings from 3 cities to create a 'storytelling' garden museum. This hotel has received the Platinum Award at the 2023 Muse Design Awards, one of the most influential international awards in the creative design field.

Betterwood’s Innovative Approach

As the hospitality and travel industry matures, the innovation and reform of loyalty programs become imperative. Betterwood, considering member needs and experiences, introduces a innovative approach.

Betterwood introduces a new system where points, termed as 'credits' are calculated based on the duration time of stay. This shift encourages consumers to spend more time in Betterwood's offline experiences, aligning with the trend of experiential consumption and establishing a differentiated competitive advantage in the industry.

Betterwood pioneers five major member benefits. The innovative core benefits include the best room rates for members, points that never expire, guaranteed upward mobility in membership tiers, free cancellations before 24:00 on the day of check-in, and a free night stay across all brands for every ten nights stayed. The 'stay ten nights, get one free' benefit is a groundbreaking initiative in the industry, receiving positive feedback from consumers.

According to recent data, Betterwood's membership base has surpassed 30 million.

Betterwood Is Defining the era as Membership 4.0

In the current landscape where the hotel industry is increasingly focused on operational costs, fewer groups are organizing offline activities for members due to high costs and low returns. However Betterwood is emphasizing the creation of 'long-termism' through user word-of-mouth. This 'long-termism' philosophy and its implementation are considered by industry insiders as the hotel membership system gradually entering the Industry 4.0 era.

It is understood that in the 1.0 era, membership systems were primarily focused on hotel scenarios. For example, 7 Days Inn is utilizing the 'IT membership' model, being a representative disruptor of traditional hotel business. In the 2.0 era, hotel membership systems leveraged digitalization to optimize user experiences, with Huazhu Hotels being a representative for introducing the '30-second check-in' service. In the 3.0 era, the hotel industry evolved from 'Chinese service' to the 'Chinese experience' era, extending membership systems to more scenarios and enriching benefits.

In the second half of the hotel industry's development, within the context of the experience economy, there is a need to break away from traditional logic, creating a 4.0 product that truly unleashes the value of membership systems. Betterwood is an innovative representative of this stage.

In the near future, Betterwood hopes to provide members with more interesting and meaningful experiential activities, allowing members to feel that 'the time spent on consumption can also become valuable' and 'opening up another way of life for consumers.'