IHG Hotels & Resorts highlighted its involvement in Google's agentic artificial intelligence (AI) booking pilot Tuesday as it reported half-year 2026 results.
The hotel group said the pilot enables guests to book hotels, which are processed as direct bookings, within Google's AI Mode experience. Guests can also be redirected to the group’s website for loyalty member rates.
IHG said it’s also part of Google’s Direct Offers pilot which surfaces promotions with a user’s AI-assisted trip planning and a link to book on the group’s website. Google said it was testing advertising formats, including Direct offers in AI Mode, earlier this year and said it was about “reinventing what an ad is” to “bridge inspiration and action.”
Google announced agentic bookings in AI mode for restaurants and event tickets last November and said it was planning similar capabilities for flights and hotels.
At the time Julie Farago, Google’s vice president of engineering for travel and local search, said it was working with Booking.com, Expedia, Marriott International, IHG, Choice Hotels International and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
Last week during its second quarter 2026 earnings call Booking Holdings president and CEO Glenn Fogel confirmed its involvement in the pilot and said the company was “working hard” with Google on it.
Discussing wider technology initiatives during the IHG call CEO Elie Maalouf touched on its AI-enhanced revenue management system and said it had “unlocked revenue uplift and market share gains for our owners.”
He also said IHG is in the final stages of upgrading its hotel tech stack including the rollout of its cloud-based property management system (PMS). The PMS is expected to be in 4000 hotels by the end of 2026.
Internally, Maalouf said AI is grouped into three different areas covering guest acquisition and loyalty, hotel performance and corporate efficiency and innovation.
“Together, these capabilities are strengthening our direct channels, creating better experiences for guests, enhancing hotel profitability for owners and supporting an even more efficient and scalable cost base for IHG.”
During the H1 earnings call Maalouf spoke about the various ways AI is making an impact including its marketing programs, which he said "are becoming a lot more efficient with AI, cheaper to produce, faster turnover, more marketing per dollar, more effectiveness per dollar."
Our marketing programs are becoming a lot more efficient with AI, cheaper to produce, faster turnover, more marketing per dollar, more effectiveness per dollar.
He declined to put a percentage cost saving for hotels on IHG's AI initiatives and said it was too early for anyone in the industry to put a percentage on it because it is an "evolving technology."
The company recently launch AI-enabled natural search functionality across its website and mobile app. It has also unveiled a plugin in ChatGPT providing users with real-time hotel information.
IHG reported total revenue of almost $2.7 billion for the first half of 2026, up 5.6% year over year. Operating profit increased 10% to $665 million for the same period.