IHG extends Priority Club features & rewards
InterContinental Hotels (IHG) has extended the rewards and options available to its Priority Club Rewards members by launching an Android-compatible cellphone application (following its existing iPhone app), and by partnering with TopGuest to reward members for virtual check-ins via location-based service (LBS) applications.
The launch of the Priority Club Rewards app for Android-based phones represents the second phase of the hotel group's mobile application strategy.
The new app provides customers with the ability to find and book hotel rooms, check room rates, and view or cancel reservations for all seven of IHG's brands (InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites).
The Android app follows the successful release of the Priority Club Rewards iPhone app in April 2010, which has been downloaded over 70,000 times globally and has already generated nearly US$3 million in revenue since its launch.
According to Michael Menis, vice president of global interactive marketing for IHG, "The growth of our mobile capabilities and their success in the marketplace in just one year tells us that our customers are looking for access to information wherever and whenever they want. This mobile strategy allows us to create the kind of optimised web sites and applications that can provide that level of access."
The Priority Club Rewards app for Android contains booking and reservation management features for Priority Club Rewards members, including features such as:
- Find and book a hotel;
- View hotel photos and amenities;
- Click-to-call a hotel's front desk;
- Use loyalty account details to make bookings;
- View loyalty account details;
- Manage loyalty account profile;
- View and cancel future reservations;
- Redeem points for free room nights;
- Use Corporate IDs to get corporate rates;
- Rapid enrollment in Priority Club Rewards;
- View special offers.
As part of the launch promotion for the new Android app, IHG is offering 1,000 Priority Club Rewards bonus points to members for each qualifying stay up to 30th September 2010 that is booked using the Android app.
At the same time, IHG has also announced that it will offer extra loyalty points to Priority Club Rewards members who sign up with TopGuest and use geolocation check-in services at any of the chain's 4,400+ hotels worldwide.
TopGuest rewards travelers with loyalty points and rewards for 'virtual check-ins' completed through most major location-based-service (LBS) applications, including Foursquare, Twitter, Gowalla, Yelp, Loopt and Google Latitude.
"Partnering with Topguest has allowed us to reward members each time they virtually check-in at an IHG hotel, whether it's for a night or even just a coffee in the hotel's restaurant," explained Lincoln Barrett, vice president of guest marketing and alliances for IHG.
With each LBS check-in, members earn 50 Priority Club points (up to a maximum of 50 points per day). Points are be deposited into members' Priority Club Rewards accounts within six weeks of the check-in.
Priority Club Rewards currently claims 48 million members worldwide.
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