A Forbes piece lays out the argument that realistic continued growth just in Gold Passport could add 10% to the hotel chain’s stock price.

Hyatt expanded its loyalty program’s membership base from 9 million in 2009 to 18 million in 2014.

…The loyalty program is important for Hyatt as it accounts for around 36% of room nights currently.

…We estimate that, if the membership base reaches 30 million mark in the coming years, Hyatt could garner as much as $7.50 billion in annual revenues.

The 18 million current members of Gold Passport certainly represents real growth, and it’s a bigger number than I thought if correct.

Park Hyatt Hadahaa Maldives

It doesn’t surprise me at all though that Hyatt would have doubled its membership in five years. The chain has been growing, and with 2009 as its point of departure that’s also when they really juiced the value of its program.

View of the Petronas Towers from the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

I express absolutely no opinion as to Hyatt’s stock price. But I thought the numbers about its loyalty program, and the fact that an analyst sees it as a driver of stock price was interesting.

In fairness, I’d even express a certain skepticism since the author admits that some of the membership growth is driven by growth in the hotel chain’s portfolio of properties (more properties, more guests, more members) and that some of the choice of Hyatt by program members is driven by corporate hotel contracts (company requires staying at Hyatt, so member joins the program, rather than the program driving hotel choice).

Still, it seemed notable.