LAS VEGAS—While InterContinental Hotels Group executives think of the company as an innovator, there are technology companies that admittedly have more resources. IHG operates a small portion of its portfolio, but it’s not the company’s first priority. And executives threw the towel in on owning assets about 10 years ago.
But there is one area in which IHG is arguably unparalleled: building and defining global hotel brands.
Company executives spoke during the 2013 IHG Americas Investors and Leadership Conference this week about the goal to develop “preferred brands” and the importance of IHG matching each of its brands with specific, targeted segments of guests.
“When I think about brand preference I think about my family’s hotel in suburban Detroit—a quaint, historic inn built in 1836 that my grandfather bought from Henry Ford,” said Jim Anhut, senior VP of brand management for the Americas region at IHG. “We worked enthusiastically to exceed our guest's expectations to keep them coming back again and again and again. More than anything, we wanted our guests to love the place—and they did.
“Love, not like,” Anhut continued. “Exceed expectations. Not meet some and fall short on others. Keep them coming back again and again and again. That’s loyalty, and that sums up brand preference in my book.”
Heavy research and many resources are spent understanding a target customer for each of IHG’s brands. More important than understanding the guest is understanding “a target occasion,” said Kirk Kinsell, president of the Americas region for IHG.
“When people are away from home they’re on an occasion,” he said. “And when they’re on that occasion they have a specific set of needs.”
Crowne Plaza refresh
Identifying the target occasion at Crowne Plaza, a brand that executives said can be inconsistent in its offerings across the globe, is one of IHG’s top priorities.
Over the past two years, Crowne Plaza has been undergoing the first of a three-phase “refresh.” With the first stage, “Freshen Up,” wrapping, franchisees are now propelling into the next phase, “Move Up.”
Underperforming assets will continue to be eliminated from the system to ensure a quality brand experience across the portfolio.
For Crowne Plaza, the target consumer is “a person who’s traveling for success,” Kinsell said.
“Traveling for success means the hotel has to engage that person and support that person to be successful, to feel successful,” he said. “In our case, it was putting the enhancement of the brand around our traveler so they have the tools that the hotel can support in terms of them being on the road—oftentimes on business—so we need to make sure they have a positive connection to the hotel.”
Kinsell said the research findings from the Freshen Up phase were common to all brands: Hotels must deliver the basics every time and those basics have to work great.
Carol Hoeller, recently appointed director of brand management for Crowne Plaza, said the Freshen Up phase “was focused on building quality and consistency.” The next phase, Move Up, will be Crowne Plaza’s “journey to brand preference.”
Research for the Move Up phase is driving innovation within the brand to target the success-driven consumer.
“You see that manifest itself in things like advance check-in,” said Eric Pearson, chief information officer at IHG. “We’re testing in some hotels a service where you can actually pre-check-in on your mobile device. You show up, there’s a little QR code, you walk up, point it at this kiosk, pick up the key and go right to your room. For that consumer that’s all about time focus—get out of my way I want to get focused on that success.”
Other initiatives are underway as part of the Move Up phase.
Because the target guest wants to stay energized while traveling, Crowne Plaza will introduce an “energy essential station” that provides healthy snacks for purchase and complimentary water. Running routes can be downloaded right to the guest’s mobile phone.
A “completely connected” strategy will turn entire Crowne Plaza hotels into business centers by allowing guests to wirelessly and securely print to the business center from anywhere in the hotel. Wireless Internet will require a sign-on for the entire stay, and the brand is testing a device that connects tablets and mobile devices to the guestroom TV wirelessly.
The brand is testing a “breakfast to go” option that will provide items already on the full menu in a quicker, possibly brown-bagged delivery.
These initiatives will launch in 2014.
“No competitors are offering this consistently across the entire brand,” Hoeller said.
Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express
Early research after the unprecedented relaunch of both the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands showed that consumers still didn’t quite understand the differences between the two brands. So IHG is aiming to make consumers aware that Holiday Inn is a full-service brand while Holiday Inn Express is midscale, offering less amenities and dining options but at a lower rate.
Holiday Inn recently appointed a new brand leader: Maurice Cooper, VP of the Holiday Inn brand in the Americas. Cooper said the “global icon” needed a vision.
“We need to lead with Holiday Inn, not follow,” he said. “We’re setting a new course. It’s time to change our view about what our brand can accomplish.”
To do so, Holiday Inn will embark on “strategic imperatives that drive ambitions.” Cooper will oversee “high-impact marketing,” helping drive guest reconsideration and build the relationship between guests and the brand.
Holiday Inn’s typical guest is “the contemporary traveler,” Cooper said. “They’re just as likely to traveler for business as leisure. They work 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; they’re working people who strive for balance.”
Cooper said Holiday Inn will focus on quality, moving its overall Heartbeat score—an internal measure of guest satisfaction—from 75 to 77 by 1 January. The brand is piloting a program aimed to improve restaurants inside Holiday Inns.
Another focus will be on growing the Holiday Inn Resorts footprint so guests can stay at Holiday Inn hotels for business and redeem IHG Rewards Club points at resort locations for family vacations.
“We need to be everywhere our guests want to be,” Cooper said. “None of our branded competitors are doing this well today, so we have an opportunity to own this space.”