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InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) aims to leverage multi-generational family travel and enhanced wellness offerings to fuel growth in its expanding portfolio of luxury hotels, resorts, and residences.
“We’re seeing multigenerational travel as an enduring element that has accelerated,” said Tom Rowntree, vice president of global luxury and lifestyle brands. “It’s about the importance of connections with loved ones and often about embracing wellness together.
The comments on luxury trends came as CEO Elie Maalouf touted IHG’s growing luxury capability when speaking Tuesday at a Barclays investor conference in Boston.
“Our luxury and lifestyle business has been the fastest growing for us and probably fastest growing in the industry,” Maalouf said. The segment now represents about one-third of IHG’s rooms in upscale and luxury categories, marking a substantial share gain.
Multi-Generational Luxury
Rowntree told Skift during the ILTM Cannes expo that IHG has seen rising demand for rooms from extended families celebrating life milestones or having mini-reunions at its hotels and resorts.
“So we’re looking to develop service and product offerings for families to convene for celebrations,” Rowntree said.
Suites are one area it hopes to optimize. IHG brands ordinarily set up their suites to appeal to high-net-worth individuals and families looking for privacy, but it sees a chance to make suites a place for family gatherings, too.
“The guests might sleep in ordinary rooms and instead use the suites for lunch or afternoon tea or to play games together, getting a more relaxed space than a typical event space in a hotel,” he said. We’re looking at how to optimize the real estate for that.”
Fresh Training
Travel can help bring extended family together as people unite to share a local cultural experience or a beachside escape. However, not all luxury hotels and resorts are equipped to satisfy the needs of groups ranging in age from, say, 80 to 4.
“The definition of luxury is intensely personal,” Rowntree said.”The trick for the best hoteliers is understanding those needs and anticipating what luxury might mean for an individual at a given moment.”
Last week, IHG launched a training program to help staff improve their abilities to provide luxury service at its flagship InterContinental brand.
Called “Inspiring Incredible,” the program — which will roll out over a few months — will help 80,000 InterContinental employees find ways to create “inspiring, incredible” moments for guests.
Early next year, IHG will debut a parallel training program for employees at its Regent brand.
“Experience Agents”
At Regent, one of the prime differentiator hallmarks since last year is that each guest is cared for by an ‘experience agent,’ who is almost a single point of contact for the guest or the guest’s luxury travel advisor or personal assistant when it comes understanding their needs pre-arrival all the way through a guests’ trip.
“The experience agent helps inform our guest support team of potential opportunities for delight along the way,” Rowntree said
Regent launched a program last year called ‘With Compliments’ where small perks are included in a guest’s stay, from a refreshment gallery to everyday laundry services, based on anticipating needs and sparing guests from having to ask for services a la carte.
“The goal is to create pinnacle moments as hallmarks of the Regent brand,” Rowntree said.
Wellness Tune-Up
Fine-tuning wellness to broaden offerings to appeal to people of all ages is another goal of IHG.
On the wellness front, IHG is integrating expertise from Raison d’Etre, acquired through its Six Senses purchase, across its luxury brands.
“We’re offering to owners of properties in other IHG luxury brands the chance to learn from the expertise of Raison d’Etre with Six Senses,” Rowntree said. “It’s not mandatory for owners, but some recognize its value.”
The consultancy and spa specialist is implementing these wellness concepts in its Regent spas, with upgrades set to debut in Hong Kong and Bali for 2025. Raison d’Etre is also developing a comprehensive spa and wellness strategy for the InterContinental brand.
The Global Wellness Institute expects that wellness tourism expenditures will likely hit $1.3 trillion next year, with sleep tourism and medical tourism as rising themes.
“We now have what I consider the strongest luxury lifestyle portfolio in the world with InterContinental, Six Senses, Regent, Kimpton, Vignette, Hotel Indigo with over 550 hotels open, over 400 under development,” CEO Maalouf said in November during an earnings call.
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