InterContinental Hotels Seeks to Expand Traveler Appeal with Amadeus Technology Partnership

InterContinental Hotels Group wants to get deeper into all phases of the travel cycle -- not just the planning and booking part -- so it entered into a strategic technology relationship with Amadeus to further those ambitions.

Amadeus stated in a blog post today that the agreement with IHG supports its mission to create a community model, or common technology platform, for the hotel industry, much as Amadeus did in getting the Star Alliance to accept its Altea platform as a common airline IT platform for the alliance.

An IHG spokesperson declined to provide much detail on the partnership, saying it is in its initial "planning and development" phase, and that the hotel chain is looking at all the stages of the travel cycle -- dream, plan, book, travel and share -- "quite broadly" to see how Amadeus technology might help IHG.

“IHG is a brand and consumer driven company," says Eric Pearson, IHG's chief information officer. "We use insight to anticipate consumer trends and behaviour. We also have a long track record of investing in relevant technologies to support our brand promise and build a closer relationship with our guests. Partnering with Amadeus will help us continue to do just that. We look forward to working with them.”

Amadeus has been making a big push into further developing its hotel business, and as one sign of that last year Amadeus announced it would acquire Newmarket International, which offers back-end systems to help hoteliers increase revenue and bookings.