Best Holiday Lettings

Tag: intercontinental hotels group

  • Lam takes sales role with Fairmont Hotels

    Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which counts notable hotels like Shanghai’s legendary Fairmont Peace Hotel and the recently opened Fairmont Makati as portion of its storied hotel portfolio, has named Carmen Lam as vp, hotel sales and marketing, Asia Pacific.

    Lam, who might be based in Shanghai, joins Fairmont on this newly created role to supply sales and marketing direction to Fairmont’s hotels in Asia Pacific and support to the posh operator’s burgeoning pipeline of regional development.

    “We’re quickly growing our footprint in Asia and are very fortunate to be adding a pace-setter of Carmen’s calibre to our regional management team,” said, Jeff Doane, Fairmont’s vp, hotel sales and marketing.

    “With her wealth of hotel related experience and firm understanding of the regional marketplace, she’s ideally positioned to steer our sales, marketing and branding activity throughout Asia.”

    With six hotels open and operating in Asia, including three in China, Lam will focus on maximizing results and driving performance for this dynamic mixture of resort and town centre properties.

    She’ll even be answerable for executing Fairmont’s regional sales strategy, regional brand management, and awareness and marketing activity for brand spanking new hotels including announced Fairmont projects in Jakarta, Bali and a number of other cities in China.

    Lam arrives at Fairmont having previously served as senior vp, leisure & brand sales and marketing for Hong Kong/Macau-based Melco Crown Entertainment.

    Over the process a career that has spanned greater than 20 years, Lam has also held a sequence of management positions with leading brands in Asia including roles with Shangri-La Hotels and InterContinental Hotels Group.

  • News: Holiday Inn opens in Ny

    IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) is opening the hot Holiday Inn NYC – Lower East Side, within the thriving Lower East Side neighborhood with regards to major businesses, universities and Manhattan attractions.

    The 132-room, eight-story hotel at 150 Delancey Street, includes a fresh, modern and open floor plan with signature design and branded elements through the space. Within the lobby area, guests will find lobby seating, a grab & go café featuring a 24×7 market, and a brand new way to the business center via an eBar.

    “We are proud to welcome the vacation Inn Lower East Side to the vacation Inn brand family,” said Heather Balsley, senior vice chairman, Brand Management, Holiday Inn brand family, The Americas, IHG.

    “This hotel is one of the over 1,200 properties worldwide which represent the hot face of a brand it’s redefining guest comfort and convenience in cities across America, and the Lower East Side in Ny city is a market where we believe this new Holiday Inn hotel will thrive.”

    The new hotel is in keeping with the vacation Inn brand family’s $1 billion global brand relaunch. The relaunch continues to drive increased quality and consistency around the global portfolio.

    The hotel includes a contemporary image with emphasis on arrival and welcome services, guestroom and guest bath comfort and a redesigned logo and signage.

  • InterContinental Hotels tap into China

    InterContinental Hotels Group has begun adding its entire portfolio of four,600 properties all over the world to China travel retailer Ctrip.com International via a reservations system connection designed and implemented by DerbySoft.

    “We are happy to have a successful reference to IHG through DerbySoft, and Chinese customers can easily reserve more global hotels through Ctrip,” said Maria Maohua Sun, Ctrip’s Senior Vp and Head of Hotel Business Division. Online travel bookings in China overall are expected to achieve nearly $14.4 billion this year, in keeping with PhocusWright. 

    With 160 operating properties and 30% of its global pipeline in China, IHG recognized the necessity to directly connect its central reservations system (CRS) to China’s largest travel portal allowing online booking of its properties for both outbound and inbound Chinese travelers.  End result of the DerbySoft connection to IHG’s CRS, Ctrip users would be in a position to view real time availability and receive an instant booking confirmation.

    “Having worked with DerbySoft since 2007 on quite a lot of technology projects, we were extremely confident of their ability to assist us with this complex direct connection,” said IHG Vice chairman of Distribution and Intermediary Sales Andrew Rubinacci. DerbySoft was the primary technology provider to attach an international hotel company’s CRS to Booking.com, the Amsterdam-based division of Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN), when it connected IHG to Booking.com in 2008. 

    The XML-based connection between IHG and Ctrip, facilitated by DerbySoft, went live this week. Over the subsequent several weeks, DerbySoft will continue rolling out IHG’s 4,600 properties onto the Ctrip system. “We are proud to have created this new reservations connection between these two major industry players,” said DerbySoft Vice chairman of Connectivity Keith Cotton. “Our distributed technology platform, which gives extremely flexible and unique solutions to deal with the various business rules of both partners, includes servers strategically positioned all over the world to offer reduced latency and exceptional system response times for both Ctrip and IHG..” 

      DerbySoft builds highly customized electronic “pipelines” that transmit accurate room availability, rates, and inventory (ARI) from the hotel companies’ CRSs to 3rd-party online booking channels, and in turn deliver the reservations made at the travel booking websites back to the hotel companies’ central reservations systems.

  • Holiday Inn opens in Long island

    IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) is opening the recent Holiday Inn NYC – Lower East Side, within the thriving Lower East Side neighborhood near major businesses, universities and Manhattan attractions.

    The 132-room, eight-story hotel at 150 Delancey Street, includes a fresh, modern and open floor plan with signature design and branded elements during the space. Within the lobby area, guests will find lobby seating, a grab & go café featuring a 24×7 market, and a brand new way to the business center via an eBar.

    “We are proud to welcome the vacation Inn Lower East Side to the vacation Inn brand family,” said Heather Balsley, senior vp, Brand Management, Holiday Inn brand family, The Americas, IHG.

    “This hotel is likely one of the over 1,200 properties worldwide which represent the brand new face of a brand that’s redefining guest comfort and convenience in cities across America, and the Lower East Side in Ny city is a market where we believe this new Holiday Inn hotel will thrive.”

    The new hotel is in keeping with the vacation Inn brand family’s $1 billion global brand relaunch. The relaunch continues to drive increased quality and consistency around the global portfolio.

    The hotel includes a contemporary image with emphasis on arrival and welcome services, guestroom and guest bath comfort and a redesigned logo and signage.

  • News: IHG offers free internet for all loyalty members worldwide

    IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) today announced that it’ll be providing free internet to all its 71m loyalty programme members, worldwide. The announcement comes as IHG reveals the result of a worldwide online survey* which show that almost 1/2 adults (43%) would select to not stay in a hotel that charged for internet.

    IHG is the primary and only hotel group to provide free internet in all hotels to all loyalty programme members, globally – whether or not they stay the night or are available for a coffee or an impromptu meeting. It’s going to benefit millions of guests globally as IHG has the main rooms and is in additional countries than anyone of the opposite four largest hotel companies on this planet**. This may start from July 2013 for Elite members and extend to all members during 2014.

    The move comes as IHG announces that it’ll be enhancing and renaming its industry-leading loyalty programme Priority Club® Rewards as IHG Rewards Club in July and introducing a number of new benefits for members.

    Richard Solomons, Chief Executive, IHG, said:
    “In today’s fast-paced world, we all know that travellers should stay connected and free internet access is increasingly important. i’m proud that IHG is the primary hotel company to present free internet globally to all our loyalty programme members.

    “2013 marks 10 years since IHG became a standalone company. Whilst we’re relatively young as a business, our brands, inclusive of Holiday Inn and InterContinental, have a deep history and a strong heritage and are instantly recognised by millions all over the world.

    “Renaming our industry-leading loyalty programme as IHG Rewards Club may help our guests remember that all our brands are section of a similar IHG brand family.
    “Whether this can be a business stop-over or a family holiday, our guests can select from greater than 4,600 hotels in nearly 100 countries and territories, secure within the knowledge that every carries the IHG badge of responsibility, trust and confidence that they could depend on.”

    Internet access is increasingly important to hotel guests and a key consideration when planning their hotel stays. New research* commissioned by IHG reveals that:
    *  43% of adults surveyed said that they’d choose to not stay in a hotel that charged for internet.
    *  23% of respondents said that free internet in rooms and within the hotel is the main amenity when staying in a hotel for business, in comparison to *  7% who chose room service.
    *  Travellers from China placed one of the most importance on online connectivity – with nearly half (47%) listing it because the most vital thing to them when staying in a hotel for business, followed by those from Russia (26%), the u. s. (23%) and India (22%).
    *  Travellers from the united kingdom (18%) and the usa (14%) both listed buying internet because the second most disturbing thing when staying at a hotel after noisy guests (22% and 24% respectively).

    Globally, more female respondents (14%) say free internet within the hotel is fundamental to them when staying for leisure, in comparison with 2% who listed having an in-room hairdryer.

    IHG Rewards Club, formerly Priority Club Rewards, is the world’s first and biggest hotel loyalty programme, providing existing, industry-leading benefits including points that never expire, no blackout dates for Reward Nights, flight rewards, music downloads and free nights at any IHG hotel anywhere on earth.

    From July, new benefits will include:
    *  free internet to all Elite status members from July 2013 and lengthening to all members during 2014;
    *  the facility to earn Elite status faster by staying in three or more of IHG’s hotel brands;
    *  Reward Nights will count toward earning Elite status; and
    *  Platinum Elite members’ “extra” nights will roll over toward maintaining their status of their next membership year

    Booking directly with IHG provides guests with access to the precise available rates through our ‘Best Price Guarantee’ and ensures they qualify to earn points for his or her IHG Rewards Club account.

    Recommended