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New Loyalty Program Journey Targets Independent Boutique Hotels

Sean O'Neill photo
Sean O'Neill
March 12th, 2025 at 9:38 AM EDT
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Skift Take

The new startup Journey faces significant challenges in building consumer adoption and achieving the necessary scale to compete with established loyalty programs. But its notable backers believe it's addressing critical pain points in today's loyalty system.

Journey, a new company focused on bringing loyalty program capabilities to independent hotels and vacation rentals, is preparing to launch its consumer-facing platform this month.

The U.S.-based company has notable backers. It was founded by CEO John Sutton, the former chief digital officer at Red Ventures, which owns media brands like The Points Guy, Lonely Planet, and Bankrate.

Journey's investors include Brian Kelly (The Points Guy founder), Chris Burch (owner of the award-winning Nihi Sumba Resorts), and Eric Wu (the former Opendoor CEO).

Journey is one of the first reward programs to cover stays at both hotels and vacation rentals, two categories of lodging that have historically competed.

It also aims to drive direct bookings in an unusually explicit way. Guests earn at least five points per dollar on eligible stays booked directly wit

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