Hotel guests are increasingly expecting seamless technology and a demonstration of sustainable practices.
In its Q4 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 programme 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 personalised 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 normalisation 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.
Source: PhocusWire