Kristi is the Vice President and Head of Product at Global Hotel Alliance, the world's largest alliance of independent luxury hotel brands.If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes to develop a hotel loyalty program then this episode is for you. Global Hotel Alliance recently went through a rebranding and repositioning to change their program and meet customers where they’re at today in terms of expectations of a loyalty program. What they found is that even though some may like lofty rewards, redemption on some of their most exclusive experiences wasn’t what they had hoped so making the program more simple and attainable has driven higher usage and better satisfaction from guests and hotels.Whether you are a GHA hotel, part of one of the big loyalty programs or have none at all, this conversation is a masterclass on talking to your customers to find out what they want, then figuring out how to deliver on those expectations - and that can help in all sorts of situations.About KristiKristi is a passionate commercial leader responsible for the core product (a loyalty program), its roadmap, and marketing at Global Hotel Alliance (GHA).Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is the world's largest alliance of independent luxury hotel brands (40 brands with 800 hotels in 100 countries). Kristi was part of the original team in this start-up and helped build the brand, the global marketing team, and the first-of-its-kind experiential loyalty program – GHA DISCOVERY – from the ground-up. GHADISCOVERY has won over 80 industry awards for its program and marketing innovations and will soon have over 20million members driving $2 billion in topline revenue.Kristi has 20 years of experience in consumer-centric roles, starting in retail at Neiman Marcus where she held merchandising and marketing roles. She joined GHA in 2009 and helped launch and grow the loyalty program, largely focused on CRM, direct marketing and digital experience to increase engagement. In recent years she has been dedicated to product development based on customer insights and project management and delivery of the strategic roadmap.Kristi serves on the Hospitality Innovation Advisory Council at Vation Ventures and Brand Innovators Innovation Advisory Council, is on the judging panel for the Communicator Awards, w3 Awards, and Davey Awards, and is a frequent speaker at industry events. She has a BS from Cornell University with a concentration in Consumer Economics and has an EMBA from NEOMA Business School.LinksWebsite: globalhotelalliance.comLoyalty Program Website: ghadiscovery.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristi-gole-7687893/Email: kristi.gole@gha.com---For past episodes, show notes or if you’ve got a story that might make a great episode, head over to theprovenprinciplespodcast.com. We’d love to hear from you.You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts, even on YouTube... and if you haven’t already, don’t forget to leave us a rating and a review. Thanks for listening to The Proven Principles Hospitality Podcast.