Peloton partners with Hilton to put bikes in hotels

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss Peloton’s partnership with U.S. Hilton hotels.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

JULIE HYMAN: Should we talk about another--

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, let's send them in here. Outside of that market open, shares of Peloton in focus after the bike maker announced a deal with Hilton to put bikes in every Hilton owned hotel across the United States. The partnership will provide at least one bike to each hotel, including locations of the 18 hospitality subsidiaries that Hilton owns, such as Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites.

JULIE HYMAN: The market says, meh.

BRIAN SOZZI: Well, I'm surprised. I'm surprised. And we've been very critical of Peloton here at Yahoo Finance, sure, but Hilton, you're going to get a 90-day free trial. You're getting a 90-day free trial if you're a Hilton Honors member for Peloton.

Why that matters, Hilton has over 140 million people in that Hilton Honors program. So the read through here would be, perhaps, you're going to see an infusion of people trying Peloton for the first time. Maybe they can convert some of those customers, maybe not, but still, this is a good thing for Peloton and what has been a absolute disaster for the company in the past year.

BRAD SMITH: Here's the thing, when it comes to strategy for Peloton, they any type of growth is going to come through partnerships. It's Amazon, it's Dick's Sports, it's Hilton. And what I've been talking about for months now, in the importance of them getting into where people already are at with their fitness experiences, having the ability to go into a Hilton gym and use a Peloton and perhaps seeing some type of sign on there, this is, I think, one of the most critical partnerships that they could have.

Because not only does it allow them not just a wholesale partner that you get in Dick's or in Amazon being able to position you on the website, but it also gets you this opportunity to sell into Hilton already and then have some type of add on or tack on type of subscription growth more broadly. Because then you have people who are traveling, whether that be corporate or individuals, that are saying, all right, yeah, I'm comfortable with this. And even if I don't purchase a Peloton, at least want to be able to track my own activity when I go from one Hilton experience to another.

BRIAN SOZZI: I'll add this too. I stayed at San Francisco at a, I'll just call it a IHG hotel, two weeks ago. Gym was awful. It was straight out of 1988. I wanted a Peloton Bike or I just wanted weights that did not look like they were from 1988.

The gym was absolutely disgusting. So from now on, stay I will probably stay at a Hilton because of the Peloton Bike. Now whether I'm going to get on it, if there's only one of them, it to be determined, but that hotel was awful, awful.

JULIE HYMAN: That's true. Are people going to have to be fighting over the bikes?

BRIAN SOZZI: I'm ready to fight.

BRAD SMITH: He wakes up early, so he might not have to.

BRIAN SOZZI: I'm ready to throw somebody's ass off the bike. I'm ready to go. I want to get on. I need to work out.

JULIE HYMAN: OK, watch out, people. If you're staying in a Hilton--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

--with the Peloton. I won't be on the bike, don't worry about me. One more thing I would say about this is, I do wonder, though, if it's going to drive any hardware sales at all. To me, if it's going to drive sales, it's going to be subscription sales, which is what the company has been pushing anyway, and less hardware.

BRIAN SOZZI: Great. Now I'm watching for the ISG email Great.

JULIE HYMAN: IHG.

BRIAN SOZZI: IHG. The Continental.

JULIE HYMAN: Yes, let's say the correct name of the hotel if we're criticizing it.