Thai hospitality firm Minor Hotels, a hotel owner, operator and investor, has taken a stake in the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA). The investment, worth a total of $3.2 million, represents a 10 per cent share of the GHA.

Minor Hotels, which has been a member of the GHA since 2007 when it first signed up to the group with luxury brand Anantara, took the opportunity to support the alliance which is currently investing in new CRM and shared technology to build on the success of the Discovery loyalty programme.

Following this shareholder announcement, Dillip Rajakarier, Minor Hotels CEO, will now join the GHA Board of Directors.

Rajakarier commented: “Since joining the GHA in 2007, we have grown and developed our own brands and continue to acquire new ones, and membership of GHA fits well with our multi-brand strategy. GHA has consistently demonstrated the value of global customer reach and a strong CRM and loyalty programme for our hotels, and so we are delighted to be able to take our place as a shareholder in the business, with the opportunity to help guide its growth over the coming years.”

"The 13 million Discovery members will produce $1.7 billion in room revenues in 2018, of which around $125 million is from customers moving between our member brands. We plan to double those numbers in the next few years, as independent brands look to collaborate with each other to share the common challenge of competing with the ever-consolidating major brands and third-party distribution providers," he said. - TradeArabia News Service