Hotel guests are increasingly expecting seamless technology and a demonstration of sustainable practices.
In its fourth quarter and full-year 2021 earnings call, Keith Barr, CEO of Holiday Inn-parent IHG, named these as the trends the company needs to respond to, saying: “They are placing an increasing value on seamless technology and a stronger expectation that businesses will bring sustainable practices to the fore.
"There's also the shift to hybrid working with more companies considering how and where to bring their teams together and employees looking at how to combine business and vacation days.”
He went on to discuss the new IHG loyalty program which has more than 100 million members who “traditionally account for more than around half of our guest days.”
Barr adds: “Loyalty members stay more and spend more. They are also nine times more likely to book direct, which is the most profitable channel for our owners.”
He also says loyalty members were the most resilient during the pandemic and the company is now planning “the biggest loyalty transformation in our history” which will include personalized benefits.
A third priority for the company, after building its brands and putting guests and employees at its heart, is creating “digital advantage” says Barr.
“This is vital to enabling a seamless technology experience across the guest journey, from driving direct bookings and creating integrated digital experiences for our guests to delivering revenue-enhancing solutions for our owners.”
He adds that attribute pricing, part of IHG’s guest reservation system developed by Amadeus, is being rolled out with 95% of hotel having completed “detailed room inventory assessments in preparation.”
IHG was announced as the launch partner for the GRS back in 2015 and in 2018 said Kimpton would be first to switch over to the new platform.
Piloting of the attribute pricing system began in early 2019 with the technology enabling guests to select room attributes when booking as well as other hotel services.
On distribution trends, Barr says it's “pretty noisy” because of different rates of recovery in different geographies.
“In areas where we have seen a full recovery and you’re seeing more business travel, you’re seeing much more of a normalization to our traditional distribution contributions. In markets where it’s been much more leisure oriented, you are seeing an increase in some of the OTAs because, again, those are infrequent leisure customers and you’re seeing decreases in things like GDS.”
Echoing similar comments from Marriott in its recent earnings call, Barr adds that a lot more business came direct and that the launch of a new mobile app will boost its digital share.
IHG reported increased group revenue up 21% to $2.9 billion in 2021, with an operating profit of $494 million compared with a loss of $153 million in 2020.
As a comparison, revenue for 2019 was up 8% to $2.1 billion with operating profit up 4% to $865 million.