NH Hotel Group joins Global Hotel Alliance

NH Hotel Group, today announces that it joins the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), operator of the award-winning Discovery multi-brand hotel loyalty program. As part of the agreement, NH Rewards will merge with GHA's Discovery program in early 2022, thus becoming one of the ten largest loyalty programs in the hotel industry, with more than 900 participating hotels.

NH Hotel Group operates under three brands, NH Hotels, NH Collection and nhow, and has 360 hotels in 30 countries, located mainly in Europe and South America. The company is part of Minor Hotels, a Bangkok-based operator that operates more than 160 hotels and is a GHA shareholder. Minor's global family of brands - Anantara, Avani, Elewana, Collection, Oaks and Tivoli - are already members of the alliance and involved in Discovery.

Chris Hartley, CEO of Global Hotel Alliance, sees the onboarding as an important step for GHA: “NH will strengthen the alliance during what has been a difficult period for the hotel industry, further leveraging our collective buying power and collaborative marketing efforts. . It also gives our more than 17 million Discovery members access to hundreds of new locations in South America, Spain, Germany, Italy and Benelux, where until now we had limited coverage. "

The announcement comes as GHA is preparing to launch a redesigned version of its Discovery program during Q4 2021. There will be a variety of new features, including a digital rewards currency and unique benefits and offers for the local members, even when not staying at the hotel. More details on the new program will be announced shortly. 

Ramón Aragonés, CEO of NH Hotel Group, who will join the GHA board of directors, adds: “By being part of Minor Hotels, we are already expanding NH's presence in new markets, such as Australia. With Minor brands successfully participating in the Discovery loyalty program for years, this has been a logical step for NH and our customers. Enrich the choice of NH's 10 million members, opening destinations in Asia, Australia and North America; and it makes us more competitive with a loyalty platform to compete with the best in the industry. I am delighted to join Minor CEO Dillip Rajakarier on the GHA board, where I look forward to participating in the strategic growth of the alliance through strong collaboration with an extraordinary collection of independent brands. ” 

GHA's Discovery loyalty program was first launched in 2010 to help independent, exclusive and luxury hotel brands compete with the world's leading brands without losing their individuality. Discovery celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020. The second version of the program is expected to launch in mid-October 2021.