HOTELS recently spoke with Simon Scoot, vice president, global brand management, for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, about these and other challenges and opportunities.

Simon Scoot, vice president, global brand management, for IHG

　　Within IHG’s diverse portfolio of nine hotel brands representing virtually every market segment around the world, standing apart can be a challenge. Nevertheless, IHG bills InterContinental Hotels & Resorts as its “most prestigious hotel brand,” and indeed, it has served luxury guests for almost seven decades.

　　Today, the InterContinental brand boasts 170 hotels in more than 60 countries, not to mention a 48-hotel pipeline. Yet even with its rich history and strong reputation, InterContinental faces the same questions as any luxury brand in a fast-changing market landscape — how can it best serve guests ever-evolving needs and continue to stay relevant? HOTELS recently spoke with Simon Scoot, vice president, global brand management, for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, about these and other challenges and opportunities.

　　HOTELS: How has the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand evolved in recent years, and how would you characterize it today?

　　Simon Scoot: The number one thing for us is that we are truly international. The recent past has really been about growth in Asia — in particular, greater China. A lot of that growth has come off the InterContinental Hong Kong, which we acquired as a company in 2001, and that has really seen our growth accelerate in greater China, which will become very shortly our biggest region for the brand.

　　To add to that is resort growth. Again, that growth is predominantly in the Asia region.

　　In terms of development, opening up in key cities and high-quality resort locations is our ambition. When we look at our pipeline, 80% of the pipeline is in Asia.

　　HOTELS: How would you characterize the evolution of the overall brand positioning, and who is your target customer today?

　　Scoot: The customer decides where they position us, but I’d call the segment that we play in international luxury. What we’ve seen recently in terms of travel flow is the key cities are getting busier — particularly the major cities like London, New York and Paris — both for leisure and business, but I think you see a more blended approach to people’s travel needs now. We’re looking less at the profile of a business traveler or a leisure traveler; we’re just looking at people who are traveling and want to stay at 5-star hotels around the world.

　　HOTELS: What else is top of mind for you in terms of major initiatives and goals for the brand right now?

　　Scoot: We’re very conscious of our DNA. When the brand was founded in 1946, basically InterContinental’s remit was to bring the best of local flavor and, at that time, American standards. Basically, our positioning is very similar today. We go out of our way to share what’s best about the locations we’re in while guaranteeing international standards of safety and luxury for our customers. Helping our customers feel in the know when they stay with us is very much central to our marketing effort.

　　Some proof points around that would be our people. I’m really thrilled with the very high levels of employee engagement in the InterContinental brand. We measure our employees’ happiness twice a year, and statistically we’re in the top percentile of not just companies in our sector, but in all sectors. That’s really important. Last year we had a new brand orientation, and we shared the brand story with our employees in more detail, and it’s a story that appeals to them as much as it does our customers. Our service proposition is what we call “At Your Side.” We’re really just trying to help people get the most out of their time with us when they’re in our hotels.

　　Another way is through our concierge program. There are a number of different formats that takes. Number one is our best-in-class concierge training, but there are some other important proof points. We were the first hotel brand to put a concierge app on the iPad; all of our hotels and resorts have a destination video starring the head concierge where they take you around the place they’re in and share insider knowledge. We’re not just going for the most obvious places in town; what we"re looking for here is to create connection and meaning with our customers. For our latest ad campaign, we actually shot some of our concierges in their favorite place in their city. We just shot Sydney, Bangkok and London. We monitor guest satisfaction with the concierge effort that we offer, and we also track that on TripAdvisor, and I’m very confident we have a leadership position throughout the industry.

　　HOTELS: On a broader level, how do you view the evolution of "luxury" in the hotel world, and what does it mean for InterContinental"s approach?

　　Scoot: People are looking for more than the tangible. People are looking for personal connections. People are looking to tell stories, and they’re sharing more than ever before on the social networks.

　　Everyone is familiar in marketing with the experience economy, that everyone wants to go out and have experiences, and they need to be authentic. But I think there’s a move now, particularly post-downturn, that people want to get as much meaning as possible out of these interactions. People want to feel special. We focus a lot on the arrival experience at the hotel, that you get a great sense of welcome when you arrive at an InterContinental hotel or resort.

　　I think another piece is people’s expectations around dining and entertainment. The fact that hotel restaurants can compete with the best restaurants and bars in a city is vital. We’re putting in a big effort in terms of our food and beverage. We have a distinct positioning for that. We’re also looking at wellness in food and beverage and to be sustainable wherever we can.

　　The other thing that we’re looking at is our role in society. For InterContinental, partnerships are very important. On IHG’s side, we have IHG Academy. We have, for example, in China 150 academies that help young people build careers in hospitality. And we have Green Engage, which is IHG’s sustainability program. For InterContinental in particular, we are the Ted.com official hotel partner. We are launching that partnership in March. The debate that we are going to open with the Ted community is what is the future of local? We’re fascinated about the role hotels and resorts can play as a force for good. That’s a very intimate conversation. We’re quite a big brand — 170 hotels in 63 countries — but for me it’s important that we behave small.

　　HOTELS: How does the brand fit into IHG as a whole, and how would you assess its position as a priority for the overall company?

　　Scoot: We’re very fortunate in some respects, because the company is called InterContinental Hotels Group. The company is very clear on the role that InterContinental plays in the portfolio and cherishes that role.

　　I think our executive committee and regional presidents are not biased to any particular brand. They’re also savvy that brands play differently in different markets. For InterContinental, we have focused quite deliberately on scaling up in China — not just in distribution, but also in terms of awareness and preference. So I’ll be thinking a lot about China; maybe Holiday Inn Express would be thinking a lot about growth in India.

　　HOTELS: Where would you like to see the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand in the years ahead?

　　Scoot: For InterContinental, we have a 2020 ambition for the brand across the classic Ps of marketing. I’m very clear on where we want to be in terms of distribution, organizational development and our people tools, talent management. GMs are very important to the brand, and we’re very focused on developing our current GMs, bringing GMs into InterContinental from the other brands. That’s key particularly with the pipeline we have. I very much believe the general manager owns the brand in the location they’re in.

　　We’re always improving, particularly with service delivery. I’m also looking at renovation of hotels and working with owners on that process. “Bigger, better, stronger” is our mission, but to do that in a very considered and meaningful way.