Small Luxury Heroes will be SLH’s first initiative of this nature, despite travel agents accounting for more than two thirds of the organisation’s reservations.
Under the new programme, agents can earn rewards ranging from Amazon gift cards to SLH Gift Certificates and points can also be used towards complimentary nights at the brand’s 520 hotels in 80 countries.
Agents who register before the end of January will also have the chance of winning one of 25 $1,000 SLH Gift Certificates being offered as part of an incentive to celebrate the launch of Small Luxury Heroes and SLH’s 25th anniversary.
Speaking at International Luxury Travel Market, chief executive Filip Boyen (pictured) said: "Travel agents are the heroes of our business. We hope that by launching Small Luxury Heroes we can further inspire them to champion the SLH brand by providing a platform through which they can better engage with their peers and our hotels. We hope they will become our ambassadors for the next 25 years and beyond. It’s also important agents are able to experience the brand for themselves.”
SLH has also relaunched its brand identity under the tag of “independently minded”.
Global marketing director Tim Davis said: “We’re taking a new direction that differentiates us from the competition with new lifestyle-focused imagery that brings the brand and the experience to life.”
But as well as experiencing significant digital growth in bookings, SLH said it recognised there was still a place for the old printed directory, which will make a comeback in January after a two-year absence and 200,000 copies will be distributed to hotels and partners.
Boyen said there would also be a more stringent approach to standards, with its Development and Quality Assurance programmes receiving an overhaul to ensure members stay up to scratch. The enhanced assessment programme will have 720 standards for hotels to abide by and SLH is taking on 25 more people to swell the number of inspectors to 120, all of whom visit the hotels incognito.
“This will guarantee that all hotels in the collection offer the very best guest experience,” said Boyen. “SLH will be harder to join and more difficult to remain a part of. It should be about quality not quantity, but we will probably still look to maintain the level of around 520 members.”
He said there would also be a focus on ensuring that SLH has hotels in new destinations requested by its guests. In 2015 SLH introduced hotels in Tokyo, the Seychelles, Prague and Malta based on unfulfilled customer searches on slh.com and in 2016, key new destinations will include Ibiza, Dubai, Hawaii, Munich, US and Sydney.
An enhanced loyalty scheme – Very Independent People – is also to be launched later in 2016.
“We are strengthening our focus on agents, on digital, on quality membership and on the customer. Small has never been bigger,” said Boyen.
