This week we launched a digital loyalty experience for Hotel Indigo London K West Shepherd’s Bush. It is a project I shaped and built personally, which I do less of than I would like these days, and it is a bit different from most of what TLC ships. There is no app to download. The whole thing runs in the browser.
What we built
A mobile-optimised web app. A guest signs up in seconds, from a QR code on the table or the bar or a link from the hotel, with no app store in the way. Once they are in, they can add a pass to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, which gives the hotel a push channel without a native app. From then on they see their points, spend and rewards in real time, collect digital stamp cards for the things the hotel wants to encourage, and get a view of their relationship with the venue that is clearer than most hotel loyalty programmes offer.
Under the hood there is a direct integration with Silverware POS, so every transaction flows into the programme without the floor team doing anything extra. The structure is built to support tiers when the hotel is ready for them. That is deliberate. Launch simple, learn, then add.
Why web, not app
Anyone who has heard me speak knows I am an advocate for native apps. For a multi-venue group with a large base of regulars, a branded app on the home screen is the best channel there is. Push notifications, order and pay, reservations, the lot. I have built a lot of them and I will build a lot more.
But requirements differ, and a good technologist should fit the tool to the job rather than the other way round. For a single hotel with a lively bar and restaurant trade, a mix of hotel guests and local residents, and a wish to get people signed up in the moment, the friction of an app download is a real cost. Someone having a drink at the bar on a Thursday is not going to visit the App Store. They will scan a code.
The wallet pass closes most of the gap. It sits on the phone, it is visible at the lock screen, it can carry the member’s balance and the hotel can send updates to it. For this brief, that was enough.
What I learned building it myself
Doing the build rather than overseeing it was a useful reminder of a few things.
- Sign-up length is everything. Every field you add costs you members. We asked for the minimum and left the rest for later.
- Stamp cards are underrated. Simple, visual, and the guest understands them instantly. They are the right mechanic for driving a specific behaviour, such as trying the breakfast or coming to the bar on a quiet night.
- Real-time matters more than people think. A balance that updates while the guest is still at the table feels like magic. One that updates overnight feels like admin.
- The POS integration is still the project. Silverware was straightforward, but it was still the longest line on the plan.
Who this is for
If you run a single hotel, a pub, or a small group where the case for a native app is not yet there, this is the model I would look at. It is faster to launch, cheaper to run, and it gets you the data and the relationship without asking the guest for a download. When the programme grows and the case for an app arrives, the data comes with it.
Thank you to the team at Hotel Indigo London K West for the trust and the quick decisions. If you are in Shepherd’s Bush, go and have a drink and scan the code.
If any of this is relevant to your estate, get in touch. There is more writing here, and the studio behind the work is TheLoyaltyCo.