UAE-headquartered Global Hotel Alliance, the world’s largest alliance of independent hotels brands, has kick-started 2023 with accelerated growth, with 16 new hotels joining its portfolio and performance figures meeting or exceeding pre-pandemic levels in Q1, driven by continued appetite for international leisure travel.

Building on the momentum of 2022, the first three months of 2023 continued the strong growth trend, with repeat-stay room revenue and room nights at GHA’s 800 hotels across 40 brands in 100 countries back to 2019 highs since the start of the year and total revenue hitting more than USD550 million for the quarter.

International stays made by the 24 million GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme members grew strongly, consistently exceeding 2019 figures, with popular leisure destinations driving the robust recovery in room revenue into Q1 2023 including Thailand (91% international stays), the UAE (82%), the Maldives (99%), Caribbean (100%) and Singapore (70%).

Unsurprisingly, stays by members in China remained mostly domestic, but now travel restrictions have been lifted, the trend is quickly shifting towards international. GHA DISCOVERY members who travelled overseas the most were from the US, UK, Russia and France respectively, whereas members in Spain predominantly made domestic trips.

Meeting accelerating demand for international travel, GHA continues to grow, with its hotel brands adding new properties in highly desirable beach and city destinations around the world, with 16 new hotels joining the portfolio in Q1.

New additions included idyllic resorts such as Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas, set on a lush island in Phang Nga Bay, Thailand; Tivoli La Caleta Tenerife Resort in the sub-tropical Canary Islands; the stylish Tivoli Alvor in the glamorous Algarve, Portugal; NH Collection Dubai The Palm, on Dubai’s iconic Palm Jumeirah; and two with a stunning clifftop location – The Leela Kovalam, A Raviz Hotel, in Kerala, India, and Kempinski Barbaros Reserve Residences in Bodrum, Turkey.

GHA DISCOVERY members can also choose from a host of new properties with prime locations in dynamic city destinations and urban hotspots opening around the world, including Anantara Plaza Nice Hotel in the South of France; Capella Sydney, Australia; NH Bern The Bristol, Switzerland; NH Iquique Pacífic, Chile; La Suite Dubai Hotel & Apartments, the UAE; BELLUSTAR TOKYO, A Pan Pacific Hotel and HOTEL GROOVE SHINJUKU, A PARKROYAL Hotel, both in Tokyo, Japan; Pan Pacific Orchard, Singapore; Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Nairobi, Kenya; and NH Coimbra Dona Inês in Portugal’s central region.

With a greater choice of properties than ever, members were given more opportunities to earn and spend GHA DISCOVERY’s unique digital rewards currency, DISCOVERY Dollars (DD). There are now D$67 million in circulation (equal to USD67 million), with members most often seeking new hotels to experience when they redeem them.

This has ignited a cross-brand revenue surge to reach USD61 million in Q1, with the full-year forecast now upwardly revised to $260 million, up from $168 million in 2022, which was already 25% ahead of the 2019 number. European members made the most D$ redemptions during Q1, followed by those residing in China and the UAE, and when D$ were redeemed on stays, those guests then spent 11 times the value of redemption, demonstrating the considerable revenue gains to the hotels where they were spent.

GHA DISCOVERY membership is rocketing too, with a significant 140% year-on-year rise in enrollments in Q1, demonstrating the growing appeal of a loyalty programme that reflects the expectations of today’s travellers.

“Our Q1 2023 results, which build on the remarkable growth we witnessed in 2022, not only prove that travel has well and truly recovered from the challenges of the pandemic, but demonstrate the strength of the GHA DISCOVERY proposition, which has successfully tapped into what today’s travellers seek from a loyalty programme – flexibility, value and choices that meet their travel and lifestyle needs,” said GHA CEO Chris Hartley.

“With new brands and hotels continuing to join the alliance, recognising the considerable business benefits that GHA DISCOVERY delivers, in particular unrivalled cross-brand revenue and market share gains, we are confident our Q1 performance will set the pace for the remainder of the year, with GHA in a strong position to leverage surging travel demand from key global markets.”