IHG Hotels & Resorts Aims to Boost Guest Loyalty with Salesforce

IHG Hotels & Resorts will become the first global hospitality company to standardize on Salesforce Loyalty Management

San Francisco & Windsor, UK — April 22, 2024 — Today, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the #1 AI CRM, announced an expanded relationship with IHG Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: IHG, LON: IHG), one of the world’s leading hotel companies with more than 6,000 hotels across 19 global brands, to drive guest loyalty through its IHG One Rewards program and unlock efficiencies, deeper personalization, and faster innovation.

Customer expectations are changing, with 65% of consumers saying they will remain loyal to companies that offer more personalized experiences. To meet these expectations, IHG is standardizing its CRM on the Einstein 1 Platform, which brings CRM, AI, data, and trust on a single, unified platform to drive customer loyalty, more tailored guest experiences, and greater efficiencies.

“As we continue to enhance the IHG One Rewards loyalty program, one of our top priorities is ensuring our guests have a booking and stay experience that is customized to their individual travel needs,” said Heather Balsley, Global Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer at IHG Hotels & Resorts. “Our collaboration with Salesforce will enable us to further enhance the technology, tools, teams, and solutions that power our loyalty program, allowing us to provide personalized content and offerings that ultimately drive a deeper connection to our most valued guests.”

“By bringing more data into Salesforce, IHG Hotels & Resorts is able to garner greater insights that will contribute to an unparalleled experience for guests and hotel owners,” said Jeff Amann, EVP & GM, Salesforce Industries. “With the Einstein 1 Platform, IHG is delivering joy for its guests today while setting itself up to leverage new technologies like AI that help optimize guest interactions in the future.”

With the Einstein 1 Platform, IHG is delivering joy for its guests today while setting itself up to leverage new technologies like AI that help optimize guest interactions in the future.”

Jeff Amann, EVP & GM, Salesforce Industries

How IHG Hotels & Resorts is innovating with the Einstein 1 Platform

IHG One Rewards members spend 20% more than nonmembers and are estimated to be nine times more likely to book directly with IHG’s global websites and the IHG One Rewards mobile app. 

With the Einstein 1 Platform and its adoption of Loyalty Management, IHG will be able to foster even stronger relationships with guests and grow its loyalty membership with predictive AI capabilities. In addition, IHG is leveraging Data Cloud and Service Cloud to accelerate innovation and create more tailored customer service. 

• Seamless brand experience for guests: Through the expanded use of Data Cloud, IHG Hotels & Resorts will create a single source of truth for millions of customer profiles, unifying data from multiple external systems, and creating seamless guest experiences across the company’s 19 global hotel brands. With Salesforce and other technology partners, IHG is laying the foundation to use generative AI to help guests manage their stays more effectively. 
• Customer engagement and marketing: When a potential guest visits an IHG Hotels & Resorts booking page but doesn’t complete a booking, a segment is created in Data Cloud and sent to Marketing Cloud for activation to encourage the member to come back and complete the transaction. 
• Transforming the approach to guest loyalty: With Service Cloud, IHG Hotels & Resorts will be able to tap into a 360-degree view of their guests, offering more tailored customer service and delivering more accurate, faster resolutions to guest inquiries. Marketing Cloud also helps IHG Hotels & Resorts more effectively reach customers through channels they prefer, whether email, SMS, or push notifications. 

More information: 

• Learn more about IHG Hotels & Resorts
• Learn more about the Einstein 1 Platform from Salesforce

About IHG Hotels & Resorts  

IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good. 
 
With a family of 19 hotel brands and IHG One Rewards, one of the world’s largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has more than 6,300 open hotels in over 100 countries, and a development pipeline of over 2,000 properties.   

• Luxury & Lifestyle: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo  
• Premium: voco hotels, HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, EVEN Hotels  
• Essentials: Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Garner hotels, avid hotels  
• Suites: Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Candlewood Suites   
• Exclusive Partners: Iberostar Beachfront Resorts  

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 345,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and corporate offices globally. 

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG One Rewards. To download the new IHG One Rewards app, visit the Apple App or Google Play stores.  For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn.