Holiday Inn 2011 Annual Report Download - page 30

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ART OF THE POSSIBLE
New technology plays a pivotal role in
helping IHG achieve its Vision.
We were one of the first in our industry
to establish a mobile booking website and
we continue to lead in the mobile space.
In 2011, gross revenue from our mobile
platform exceeded $148 million across a
range of applications that are among the
top hospitality downloads. Our pioneering
use of mobile gives our guests a richer
experience from the moment they start
searching for a hotel.
As well as information about specific
hotels, guests have access to
personalised concierge applications
during their stay and the ability to provide
feedback on their experience afterwards.
Following a successful pilot, and as the
initiative is adopted across the portfolio,
Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express
guests will also get to use their mobile
phones as a key to their room.
Whether they are attached to their
Android, iPhone or the new Windows 7
phone, our guests love the way we push
the frontiers of technology to support
them. Importantly, our owners benefit
too, from increased revenue and traffic
to their hotels, and in the way they run
their business.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ON THE GO
In 2011 we delivered more robust
reporting tools, enabling our owners to
manage their hotels more efficiently. IHG
Reporting now gives owners a snapshot
of their hotel’s average daily rate,
RevPAR and occupancy through a full
range of mobile devices, such as phones
and tablets, literally putting their
business in their hands.
This allows owners to run their business
and assess how it’s performing while out
and about in their hotel, rather than from
the back office. Information comes from
our new group-wide forecasting system,
which allows owners to evaluate and
strategically forecast their hotel’s
performance individually, by brand
or against their total portfolio.
Through focused efforts with our
business colleagues we continue to
expand our reporting capabilities with
personalised information dashboards,
meeting planning and competitive data.
GUEST LOYALTY
We have delivered improvements to
the way hotels view and interact with
Priority Club Rewards members and
other loyal guests.
Our new web-based loyalty application,
LoyaltyConnect, provides a more intuitive
way to manage loyalty-related tasks,
such as building targeted marketing
campaigns and updating the millions
of guest profiles in our system.
Through GuestConnect Mobile, hotels
can specify which promotions to include
in pre-stay emails, enriching the guest
experience from the start.
28 IHG Annual Review and Summary Financial Statement 2011
TECHNOLOGY
It’s been another groundbreaking year for Global Technology. The team is helping to differentiate
our brands and increase profits for our owners by developing world-class tools that enhance
the guest experience, and a broad range of mobile applications that drive revenue. At the same
time many activities and products are improving cost savings such as our collaboration with
Google Mail.
“Demand for advanced
technology solutions across all
areas of our business continues
to soar, most notably among
our guests whose take-up of our
mobile and smartphone apps
has seen gross mobile revenues
increase fourfold over the
past year.”
Tom Conophy
Executive Vice President and
Chief Information Officer