By BW Hotelier

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS Group (IHG) recently announced new enhancements to its existing loyalty programme, IHG Rewards Club that focusses on building more personalised relationships with its 84 million members worldwide.
Findings from IHG’s 2015 trends report suggested that consumers are looking for more than an effortless transaction with their chosen brands and want a rewarding relationship over a sustained period of time. Following the research,IHG Rewards Club will now introduce a new membership level, to better reward its most loyal members with the most relevant benefits.
The research also revealed the importance of ’recognition’ to members who want to feel rewarded for loyalty. In response, IHG as part of the new reward program will enhance its ability to deliver a personalised experience for members, before, during and after their stay.
IHG Rewards Club will evolve over 2015 and 2016 by introducing a new top membership level in July 2015 wherein travelers can reach the level by earning 75,000 qualifying points or staying at IHG hotels for 75 qualifying nights, over the course of a year. The club will also offer 100% extra bonus points on qualifying stays to its customers and will allow, members of this new level to choose between receiving 25,000 points or upgrading a friend or family member to Platinum.
Club members will need to earn just 10,000 qualifying points or stay for 10 qualifying nights to be eligible for Gold membership. Gold members will need to earn 40,000 qualifying points or stay for 40 qualifying nights to reach Platinum membership.
IHG is also enhancing its ability to learn about members and then utilise this information through a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This system will enable hotels to respond to members’ preferences at every stage of the guest journey and offer services and experiences that are personally relevant to them. To enable IHG to reward its guests starting from May 2016, IHG will expire all points for IHG Rewards Club Members if they have not earned or redeemed any points at all in the previous 12 months. IHG Rewards Club members will continue to maintain their point balances simply by completing a qualifying stay at one of IHG’s 4,800 hotels or redeeming some of their existing points during a membership year.