IHG Hotels & Resorts has launched a reimagined digital booking experience for its guests that aims to give them greater personalization in their stays. IHG is leveraging the power of cloud-based platforms to allow guests to book easier and faster.
The booking options let guests select individual room attributes, so a guest who wants to stay on a higher floor or have a particular view can choose those traits when they book. Guests can also personalize their stays with in-room welcome amenities, food and beverage credits, pre-paid parking and use their IHG One Rewards elite-qualifying bonus points.
“The innovative technology that powers this level of customization for IHG's guests has allowed us to fully reimagine the booking experience, adding greater choice through the convenience of the platform,” George Turner, chief commercial and technology officer at IHG Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement. “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.”
Currently, more than 5,000 IHG Hotels & Resorts can be booked with room attributes through the new booking channel. Over 100 will eventually have stay enhancements available to book by the end of the year.
To launch the new capability, IHG undertook a comprehensive inventory of every room across its global portfolio of hotels and resorts. This inventory included details such as higher floor rooms, ocean or city views and additional amenities that guests seek when booking. Simplifying available rates across all locations worldwide ensured that guests could effortlessly find their ideal room.
The new platform is poised to help hoteliers as well. On average, when a guest purchases an attribute for their stay, hotels see additional revenue of $22 per night for that booking, with Luxury & Lifestyle brands reporting up to $41 of additional per night revenue for upsell bookings.
IHG's partnership with Amadeus has been instrumental in this next-gen cloud solutions. IHG has also invested in rebuilding each hotel's website, recognizing that 40 percent of website traffic originates from these platforms. More than 80 percent of IHG hotels already have a new website. Further investment included standardizing the definition of room types globally; for example, a Holiday Inn brand premium room type is always 15 percent larger than a standard room type.