The wedding travel market is a lucrative one for hotels and resorts in exotic destinations, and more couples are turning to honeymoon registries to make their dream trips a reality. Hotels that make their rooms and services available through wedding registries can see an uptick in incremental revenue while building long-term loyalty with guests. Recognizing this opportunity, Hilton Worldwide recently launched a honeymoon registry in partnership with HoneymoonWishes.com. The program makes rooms and extras—such as spa treatments, dining experiences, and hotel-sponsored excursions—available for booking at more than 100 participating properties.
Through the Hilton Honeymoon Registry, people can gift the couple money to use for company-branded hotel rooms or on-property services. “Gift monies are placed in the couple’s folio as a resort credit to be spent on the items and activities of their honeymoon that their guests have purchased for them,” says Nancy Williams, business development director, HoneymoonWishes.com. “This creates a brand new revenue stream that hotels did not previously have. At the same time, it creates a guaranteed on-property spend.”
If couples are gifted money to use on hotel-related items, they are more likely to spend their own money to purchase upgrades, dine at the hotel, or book tours and excursions offered by the property. Each hotel selects the extra items to be included on its registry that are specific to the resort and destination.
To partner with HoneymoonWishes.com, hotels need to pay a one-time setup fee and an ongoing monthly subscription fee. The costs depend on the number of properties in a company’s portfolio that are using the service, which can scale to both major hotel companies and independent properties.
For Hilton, those costs are worth it. “Honeymoon travel is an important area of business for our hotels and resorts, and we wanted to provide easily accessible, customizable offerings to newlyweds,” says Andrew Flack, vice president, product marketing and customer insights, Hilton Worldwide. “The registry program is another way to deliver tailored travel experiences.”
