As “the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty program”, IHG® Rewards Club from
InterContinental Hotels Group has a history of being innovative and driving value for customers. IHG recently introduced its “Into the Nights” promotion that allows members more opportunities to earn bonus points and miles, with a concentration on personalized offers for members.
Bruce Lahood, Vice President, Global Loyalty Consumer Marketing, IHG−InterContinental Hotels Group, told Loyalty360 that keeping things simple is a “guiding principle” that drives the company’s marketing programs and defines where success lies.
“How do we become more tailored, and more intelligent in the way that we engage and communicate with members?” Lahood said. “We need to keep it simple and straightforward. This is at the heart of any successful loyalty program and our efforts center on being relevant and making it easy for our members to engage with IHG Rewards Club because we are competing for their attention and ultimately their commitment.”
To keep things simple for its loyalty program members, IHG works hard at listening effectively to its customers.
“We start by understanding customer needs, and then think about how we can best service those needs by leveraging technology,” John Muehlbauer, Head of Planning and Analytics for IHG® Rewards Club, told Loyalty360. “We take research, both external qualitative and quantitative, and blend it together with feedback from members through our channels. Then we work to understand those needs, develop what the insight is, and figure out how we can use technology to solve for those.”
Technology is always changing, Muehlbauer said.
“That’s obviously the most unique challenge, but also a great opportunity as well,” he added. “We can do things now that we couldn’t do five to 10 years ago. The key with technology is you have to skate where the puck is going to be, you don’t need to skate to where the puck is right now.”
Lahood explained there’s a new philosophy evolving around IHG.
“Around finding every avenue we can to elicit quality feedback to learn from members in order to inform our actions moving forward,” he explained. “It’s hard-wired into our team and fundamental to our success as a customer-centric, data-driven marketing organization. That said, I have a non-technology case in point. We held some top-member events in the U.S. recently through our strategic partnership with The Coca-Cola Company. Informal events (like the Coke member event) are an example of a way for us to get closer to our most valued members. This speaks to being in tune with the marketplace and staying relevant.”
What’s more, Muehlbauer said the company surveyed more than 10,000 people about a year ago, and learned about their collective desire to move from a transactional relationship to a personal relationship.
“With our members, and what you are starting to see now in other loyalty programs, is a desire to do that as well,” Muehlbauer said. “Especially with the technology out there today, we can learn more about consumers and their travel behaviors, and then provide more relevant information and offers to them which ultimately helps to strengthen the relationship. That will lead to a more long-term relationship versus a short-term, more transactional one.”
Getting a full, holistic picture from doesn’t come from any one source, Lahood explained.
“Oglivy (our marketing agency) gives us one view,” he said. “The competitive lens is always useful, but I think it’s wider than that. Amazon and the true leading players provide a best-in-class view to inform where our technology and strategy need to evolve. Structurally, we are building out a more robust CRM marketing capability group to make sure we are staying abreast of developments, and more importantly, identifying where trends are and where we need to focus our CRM efforts to be more effective in the marketplace.”