Sometimes while traveling you just want to unwind in your hotel room with a decadent dessert. Applebee’s and Wyndham Hotels understand. They are now offering loyalty points and free delivery from Applebee’s to Wyndham Rewards members, which means a slice of Triple Chocolate Meltdown cake to your room is just a mobile order away.
This collaboration makes sense for Applebee’s, said Vicki Hormann, executive director of off-premise and CRM, in an interview.
“The digital experience is a large component of our off-premises business,” she said, “and this partnership offers a mutual benefit for Club Applebee’s members, who can receive 2,000 bonus points for signing up to Wyndham Rewards. This helps us personalize an experience for our guests and build an emotional connection.”
As of late the brand has been showing it has the stomach for creative partnerships, including launching a dual-branded restaurant with IHOP, which it rolled out in February in San Antonio, with the plan to launch 15 more by the end of the year.
It may need more innovation going forward as sales were down 2.2 percent for the first quarter compared to last year, according to a recent earnings call from Dine Brands, the parent company of Applebee’s.
Yet off-premises sales have been sturdy — “just south of 25 percent of overall revenues,” said Hormann — and have been growing since the pandemic. Which is why the brand is going hard on loyalty, including the Wyndham partnership.
“We are transitioning Club Applebee’s from what has traditionally been a linear email marketing program into a loyalty program,” she said. “That involves how we provide benefit personalization to our Club Applebee’s members. We will have much more to come later this year.”
