Dive Brief:
- InterContinental Group Hotels & Resorts launched a revamped cloud-based digital booking experience, the company announced Tuesday.
- The functionality is designed to make booking easier and faster for guests, as well as to personalize guests’ stays. IHG guests can filter for individual room attributes — such as a higher floor or a room with a view — and add on enhancements like food and beverage credits, lounge access, IHG One Rewards bonus points and parking.
- On average, hotels see additional revenue of $22 per night for a booking when a guest purchases an attribute for their stay, according to IHG. In the luxury and lifestyle segment, brands see up to $41 in additional revenue per night with upsells.
Dive Insight:
As of September, more than 5,000 IHG hotels allow guests to choose room attributes as part of the new booking experience, and over 100 will have optional enhancements live by the end of the year.
The new booking functionality was made in partnership with travel technology provider Amadeus. To improve the system, IHG conducted extensive customer testing. Then the company created a comprehensive inventory of every room in its portfolio worldwide, marking them for details such as higher floor, city views or added amenities.
IHG has also begun rebuilding all hotel websites, and has invested in standardizing definitions for room types globally. A new website is already live for over 80% of IHG hotels.
“By leveraging the company’s next-gen cloud solutions, we are setting a new standard in the industry, ensuring guests have the power to curate their perfect stay with ease,” said George Turner, IHG’s chief commercial and technology officer.
IHG said that guests from around the world rack up more than half a billion visits to its digital channels each year.
In December 2022, IHG renewed its partnership with Amadeus, whose platforms provide insights to develop revenue management strategies. At the time, IHG SVP of Commercial Services Dennis Corrigan called the platform’s tools “critical for our corporate colleagues and hoteliers.”
Marriott International also worked with Amadeus to build a reservations system for the hotel company that would allow guests to further personalize their stays.
In a recent report, McKinsey & Company experts noted the increasing importance of customizable hotel stays.
“If you think about it, we use data in hospitality very, very little. We can customize emails, we can customize promotions — but the customization of experience, for now, is a rarity,” said Matteo Pacca, a senior partner at McKinsey, in the report. “I believe we’re going to see much more of that going forward.”
