“If you build it they will come.” Any travel executive worth their salt knows this isn’t true. Skift Research estimates that the online travel sector spends more than $7 billion advertising on Google every year to get bookers into their ecosystem. That’s a huge amount, but it pales in comparison to the nearly $75 billion in commissions that we estimate hotels pay middlemen globally every single year. If you spend $80 billion selling and marketing it, they will come. Thankfully, we have travel loyalty to drive direct repeat-bookers.

So, Field of Dreams has been debunked as good business advice. Travelers will not simply show up. But once they do arrive, if a customer has a great experience, they will come back. Right? This feels far more factual, and yet this is just as much a myth — that’s the counterintuitive finding of the latest Skift Research report, Beyond the First Visit: The Destination Loyalty Race to Own the Repeat Traveler.

Here is the key chart. We asked travelers how likely they would be to recommend their most recently visited travel destination to a friend. These data were used to compute a net promoter score, the gold standard of customer satisfaction metrics. We then followed up by asking how likely that traveler was to return to the destination they had just visited.

Those “very likely” to return had the highest net promoter scores. No surprises so far, but here is where things take a turn — the group of travelers with the next highest favorability scores were those “somewhat unlikely” to return. More than half (58%) of these travelers were actually very happy with their destination.

Enjoyment does not automatically trigger a repeat visit. For many travelers, a great experience actually closes the loop: the destination is appreciated, enjoyed, and then checked off the list. Instead of pure enjoyment, destinations (and travel brands writ large) should focus on building comfort and familiarity. 

This speaks to the many peculiarities of loyalty across the travel ecosystem. And on that note, I can’t help but trot out one of my favorite loyalty charts ever. It shows that loyalty is not really about loyalty at all! Instead, customers expect to receive discounted travel and exclusive access. 

I worry that in building complex loyalty points programs, we have lost sight of the comfort, service, and emotional connection at the root of true loyalty. But before I get on my high horse, I’ve run out of space in this newsletter. 

Do any of you have a favorite quirk or foible of the travel loyalty ecosystem? Don’t be a stranger and share the best that you got — [email protected]!

P.S. Got any questions on the above? Our latest research report on repeat visitors will be the subject of next week’s Skift Unlocked webinar. It’s for subscribers only and we’d love to have you join! Sign up here if you’re a Skift Research subscriber.