Skift Take

Hilton grew its hotel loyalty program the most over the past five years. Long-term trends reveal who's ahead and what the effect on hotel owners has been.

Traveler sign-ups for hotel loyalty programs have soared in the past five years, and Hilton and Marriott have enjoyed some of the greatest gains.

Hilton was number 1 in growth: Its membership was up 110% in the five years through September, for a total of 173 million members.

Marriott retained its lead with the most members at 192 million, a 5-year gain of 60%.

Hilton is on track to overtake Marriott in loyalty member counts by year-end 2024. That Skift estimate assumes the two companies maintain their five-year averages in compound annual growth rates.

All of the major hotel groups doubled down on their loyalty programs. Hyatt also showed large growth, albeit from a smaller base. It didn't reveal membership in 2018, but since 2017, its enrollments grew 110% to 42 million.

Wyndham had 105 million members as of September (up 78%), and Choice Hotels had 60 million members (up 54%).

On