New trip planner will bring personalized
travel recommendations to mobile app users
ATLANTA, April 9,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cloud Next '24, LAS VEGAS -- IHG Hotels &
Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)], one of the world's leading
hotel companies, and Google Cloud, today announced an expanded
partnership that will fuel new customer experiences within the IHG
One Rewards mobile app. With Google Cloud's technologies, IHG will
launch a generative AI-powered travel planning capability that can
help guests easily plan their next vacation directly in
the IHG One Rewards mobile app in a suite of new features that
will launch in the second half of 2024, creating a more dynamic
digital guest experience.
"Working with Google Cloud as an AI innovation partner, we're
making trip planning easier and more interactive for prospective
travelers. Our customized travel planner will use GenAI to help
people discover destinations among our more than 6,000 IHG hotels
across 19 brands in over 100 countries," said Jolie Fleming, Chief Product & Technology
Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts. "Soon, guests will use the IHG
One Rewards mobile app as a true mobile travel companion to build a
full itinerary and book hotels in a few taps."
With IHG's Travel Planner, a guest can get recommendations and
ideas for both broad and nuanced requests like, "Give me four
late-night dinner options near the InterContinental London Park
Lane," or "Does the Kimpton Shinjuku Hotel in Tokyo allow pets?" to "What jazz shows are
happening near the Holiday Inn Express Manhattan Times Square South
the weekend of October 12th?"
Additional features will launch in the months following the Travel
Planner's public launch.
Investments in the IHG One Rewards mobile app and technology to
support IHG's loyalty program are critical parts of IHG's efforts
to grow customer loyalty and engagement, and working with Google
Cloud will enable the company to move quickly to deploy features
loved by guests. The Travel Planner will be developed using Vertex
AI, Google Cloud's AI platform, and Google's Gemini models.
"IHG is not only reimagining how people travel, but also how
people interact with brands," said Thomas
Kurian, CEO at Google Cloud. "This implementation of
generative AI combines Google's technical expertise with IHG's
commitment to service, raising the bar for how the hospitality
industry thinks about guests' digital experiences."
Google Cloud became IHG's cloud provider in 2022, when IHG
migrated components of its data to BigQuery, a fully managed,
serverless data warehouse. IHG's selection of Google Cloud's AI
technology for its upcoming Trip Planner feature was based on a
variety of factors, including Google Cloud's suite of AI
technologies that IHG can grow with, and Google's broad ecosystem
of consumer products and services that will enable opportunities to
create personalized experiences for travelers. IHG continues to
explore how secured technology innovation can drive increased
investment returns for hotel owners, and better experiences for
guests.
Google Cloud's approach to cybersecurity, data governance, and
privacy also allows IHG to retain control over its data, and
enables data and applications to meet compliance and security
standards, a key priority for IHG. Further, Google Cloud's
responsible and ethical approach to generative AI also means IHG
has access to tools which enable direct review of model responses
for appropriateness and accuracy. This access enables IHG to tune
and update its applications, powered by Google's models, to ensure
optimal performance.
To explore the IHG Hotels & Resorts global brands or book
your next stay, download the IHG One Rewards App.
About Google Cloud
Google Cloud is the new way to the
cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and
collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud
offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its
own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI
models and development platform, as well as AI-powered
applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more
than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their
trusted technology partner.
About IHG
IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG,
NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to
provide True Hospitality for Good.
With a family of 19 hotel brands and IHG One Rewards, one
of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has more than
6,300 open hotels in over 100 countries, and a development pipeline
of over 2,000 properties.
- Luxury & Lifestyle: Six Senses Hotels Resorts
Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental
Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, Kimpton Hotels
& Restaurants, Hotel Indigo
- Premium: voco hotels, HUALUXE Hotels &
Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, EVEN
Hotels
- Essentials: Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn
Hotels & Resorts, Garner hotels, avid hotels
- Suites: Atwell Suites, Staybridge
Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Candlewood
Suites
- Exclusive Partners: Iberostar Beachfront
Resorts
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company
and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 345,000 people work
across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.
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SOURCE Google Cloud