IHG Makes Changes to Rewards Club

InterContinental Hotels Group is making changes to its loyalty programme, IHG Rewards Club.

Following extensive research into what members want from their loyalty programme, IHG Rewards Club will 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.

Susanna Freer Epstein, SVP Customer Loyalty Marketing, IHG, said, “Our research shows us that members are looking for a personalised experience when they choose one of our family of brands – before, during and after their stay. We want to thank our members for their loyalty by responding to this at every stage of the guest journey, offering experiences that are personally relevant. And we want to say a special thank you to our most loyal members through the introduction of a new top membership level. These enhancements are just the start of a number of exciting new improvements we will be making to the programme in the coming months.”

IHG Rewards Club will evolve over 2015 and 2016 initially in the following ways:

- Introducing a new top membership level in July 2015. This new membership level can be reached by earning 75,000 qualifying points or staying at IHG hotels for 75 qualifying nights, over the course of a year.

- IHG Rewards Club will offer its most loyal members in this new membership level 100% extra bonus points on qualifying stays. Members of this newest level will also be able to choose between receiving 25,000 points or upgrading a friend or family member to Platinum.

- The qualification requirements for all membership levels have been restructured to make it easier for members to be rewarded for their loyalty. 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 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. From recognising stay preferences such as room location or pillow type and tailoring their booking options, to relevant post stay offers.

- 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.

All members will continue to have access to benefits such as free guest internet, Reward Nights with no blackout dates, no cancellation penalties, access to the wide breadth of offerings in the global reward redemption catalogue and digital innovations such as mobile check-in.