Articles tagged “ihg”

IHG CEO Keith Barr said business travel is continuing to grow — and evolve. How will the global company address those realities in 2018?

The largest hotel chains and online travel agencies have deals on paid search marketing practices that effectively trim their ad spend on Google. But smaller players remain unprotected from tough marketing tactics.

Barr is touting his experience in China and his company's long presence there as an advantage in understanding global consumer trends. But is that enough to raise the company's cool factor in western markets?

Expect more travel brands to extend their reach into the dining experience going forward, especially since consumers have to eat every day and may only travel on occasion. And after all, the way to anyone's heart is through their stomachs, right?

In the context of Amadeus Hospitality's progress, the Premier Inn deal gives a semblance of traction to woo other chains.

IHG has fewer brands in its portfolio compared to most of its competitors, so adding a couple more makes sense.

Whatever IHG ultimately does as it proceeds with this loyalty program merger, the No. 1 thing they don't want to do is to anger Kimpton Karma elites. We also wonder: Will new IHG CEO Keith Barr start letting IHG's most elite loyalty members get access to his phone number too?

While it's fairly straightforward to quantify the value of a loyalty program in terms of "payback," that doesn't account for all the other special perks and experiences that travelers may value.

Keith Barr has a clean slate to build off his tenure in China and implement new technology for IHG employees that will help shape and improve the guest experience. We'll be watching to see if his vision of more seamless technology integration is realized this year.

Time to play another game of "Is it a boutique hotel or a condom brand?" We won't go that far here, but we wonder if IHG will be willing to inject a bit more personality and more of a story into its newest brand.