NH Hotel Group is joining Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands. The landmark partnership includes the transformation of NH Rewards into the award-winning GHA Discovery loyalty program, becoming NH Discovery, and thereby creating an unrivalled hospitality offering of more than 800 hotels and resorts across 40 brands in 100 countries to a 21-million-strong global membership.
NH Hotel Group is one of the largest hotel companies in the world and brings to the alliance more than 350 properties in 30 countries under three brands – NH Hotels, NH Collection and nhow – expanding GHA Discovery’s footprint in Europe and the Americas. NH Hotel Group is majority-owned by Minor Hotels, a Bangkok-based operator of more than 160 hotels and a GHA shareholder.
Minor’s global family of brands such as Anantara, Avani, Elewana Collection, Oaks and Tivoli are already member brands of the alliance and participate in GHA Discovery.
For NH Hotel Group, joining the alliance supports its strategic development plans in the luxury segment as well as in new markets where GHA has an established presence, while its 10 million existing NH Rewards members are now spoiled for choice with rewards and recognition at new properties, in new destinations, offering more travel experiences. Existing NH Rewards members will retain the value of their points and their other benefits, including Member Rates with up to 10 per cent discount and additional rewards for booking on the NH website.
The formal announcement of the upcoming integration took place this morning at a joint GHA and NH event in Madrid attended by CEOs of the alliance member brands. Ramón Aragonés, CEO of NH Hotel Group and a GHA board member, added: “Joining GHA, and the transformation of NH Rewards into NH Discovery, marks a major milestone for NH Hotel Group and our guests at a time when the travel and hospitality sector is recovering at pace, as the encouraging turnaround in our Q1 results proves. This paves the way for growth, and by leveraging GHA’s geographical footprint we can accelerate planned development in new markets where demand for our brands is strong. At the same time, with the new NH Discovery, we have access to incremental revenue streams, while offering our own loyal guests remarkable choice.”
Welcoming NH Hotel Group to the alliance, GHA CEO Chris Hartley said: “As our newest and largest brand, NH not only enriches our global offering to members, providing access to new destinations and hospitality experiences across the Americas, Spain, Germany, Italy and Benelux, but nearly doubles our member base, further amplifying our marketing power.”
