IHG’s VP of Global Luxury and Lifestyle Brands, Tom Rowntree sat down with Karryon to discuss InterContinental Hotels & Resorts’ big plans for its future ahead of its 80th anniversary next year, revealing it will launch a new travel concept around experiential travel.
Rowntree says IHG will launch a new concept at the end of August called ‘Doors Unlocked by InterContinental’ – a global campaign to “solidify InterContinental’s position at the heart of cultural programming and insider access”.
While the full details of the concept are still under wraps for now, Rowntree says it will give guests access to experiences they would otherwise not have.
“We’re going to go much deeper and far more into cultures and knowledge building.”
He says InterContinental Hotels & Resorts’ heritage means it is experienced in doing that.
“We were in markets before there was a diplomatic mission and have been at the forefront of opening markets to tourism, so there’s an authenticity and expertise, and we have knowledge about doing that.”
Trends in travel
Rowntree says while we often talk about trends as something new, it’s the enduring trends that are the ones that are important to the luxury traveller and among those is the rise in the ‘skip generation’.
“This is where grandparents are taking grandchildren on holidays, and that leads to us having to put experiences and products in place to meet the needs of all travellers.
“So as an example, the grandparents might need some downtime built into the itinerary while their grandchildren are in the kids’ club.”
He says this, combined with the rise of multi-generational travel, has changed the type of accommodation luxury travellers are looking for.
“We’re seeing a surge for resorts with villas… so we need to have flexibility of product and need villas with bedrooms on ground floors, so the more mature don’t have to worry about stairs.
“We’re always looking at ways we can adjust the hotels we have and how we can sweat the asset for guests, and an example of that is using Presidential Suites for families for lunches or dinners.”
He says the growth of multigenerational travel comes as a result of the pandemic, where the older generation see the value in having holidays, not things.
“There’s an element of the older generation paying, and post-pandemic revenge travel is now standard in travel, and it’s core to our well-being and how we connect.
” It’s now normal for the more mature traveller that have disposable income to say, ‘I’m going to use that money to reconnect’.”
Unique and city stays on the rise
Rowntree says they’re also seeing demand for unique stays, particularly in the APAC market.
“We launched the Vignette collection in 2021. These are hotels that are one of a kind, so they have unique architecture, and we now have more than 60 hotels opened and signed, and 40 percent are in the APAC region, so it’s an incredibly important market.”
He says Six Senses, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is also seeing significant expansion, and Rowntree says they’re now looking at key cities around the world.
“What we know is that our guests who fall in love with Six Senses in remote, far-flung places, want to have a piece of this brand in the city.”
Six Senses opened its first property in Rome last year, closely followed by Kyoto. Later this year, it’s making its debut in London, followed by Six Senses Milan next year.
And this week, IHG signed a new Six Senses in Bangkok’s Silom District with Narai Hospitality Group.
Six Senses Bangkok will be one of two hotels to open at Hatai (a new mixed-use development), which will also feature premium retail and dining experiences.
The future of travel
“I think we’re going to heighten expectations from luxury consumers… and we’ll see technology rise with AI and a heightened focus on service delivery,” he says.
“There’s also going to be a heightened degree of tailoring itineraries, to get to that sharp point to tailor it to specifically to the traveller.”
But, he says the key in the end is to connect people through the experiences they have.
“As we continue to grow, our whole focus is about connecting people with cultures and helping people build knowledge of the world.
“People are looking for experiences more than material things, and travel is at the forefront of that.”
For more information, visit IHG.
