IHG ‘on track’ to deliver next generation hotel booking system

InterContinental Hotels Group remains on track to deliver its new generation booking system in 2017, the company confirmed this morning.

InterContinental Hotels Group remains on track to deliver its new generation booking system in 2017, the company confirmed this morning.

New cloud-based technology will be developed as part of the initiative, the company said.

This came as IHG revealed that it was continuing to innovate with digital solutions for its low cost direct channels. 

“Our Lowest Price Promise campaign is driving year-on-year digital revenue growth of over 20% for Holiday Inn Express in the UK, and globally our mobile initiatives are delivering a year-on-year doubling in the usage of our app amongst loyalty members,” IHG said in a third quarter management statement.

IHG expanded its global size by 4.3% to 727,000 in the three months over the same period in 2014.

It signed 16,000 rooms into a pipeline of 218,000 rooms, its highest third quarter hotels signings since the recession in 2008.

UK RevPAR [revenue per available room] growth of 4.8% was driven by London and the provinces, with both benefitting from high occupancy levels throughout the period, and strong corporate demand in September, the company reported.

Chief executive Richard Solomans said: “We delivered strong RevPAR growth of 4.8% in the third quarter, driven by rate up 3.6%, and continued to sign hotels into our pipeline at the fastest rate since 2008. 

“This demonstrates both our ability to drive growth through leveraging scale and execution against our winning strategy to create long term value for shareholders.”

He added: “There is increasing momentum across our portfolio of preferred brands.

 “Holiday Inn delivered a record level of room openings, and we are expanding our global luxury footprint, particularly in Greater China where nearly a quarter of our 5,000 room signings in the region were driven by InterContinental Hotels & Resorts.

 “We continue to expand the presence of our newer brands, including our second franchise signing for EVEN hotels in the US, and five signings for our industry-leading boutique brands.

 “The completion of the sale of InterContinental Hong Kong marks the successful conclusion of our major owned asset disposal programme, with over 95% of our profit now from the fee business.

 “Our innovative commercial strategy continues to deliver lowest cost revenues into our hotels, and we are on track to deliver a next generation cloud based Guest Reservation System for roll out in 2017.

 “Looking ahead to the remainder of this year, we are encouraged by current trading trends and remain confident in the outlook.”