InterContinental builds sense of belonging

Fueled by the growth of social media channels, there is increasing demand from consumers to belong to like-minded communities, sharing opinions and insight as they connect around their experiences of a brand. Yet, even while forming and joining such communities, people still want to retain their sense of individuality.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan 19, InterContinental Hotels Group released a report titled Meaningful Membership: Transforming Membership in The Age of I, which examines how brands can take advantage of this desire of consumers to maximize both their inclusiveness and individuality by creating "membership communities" - trustworthy alliances of likeminded others who are fully engaged with the experience a brand delivers.

The report highlighted that one of the things brands must do to build such membership communities is humanize their interaction with their customers, by giving communications a human face to establish trust and turn transactions into relationships

"In today's digital age, an organization's interaction with the outside world is more than transactional, it needs an emotional engagement to succeed, stay relevant and most importantly, maintain trust," said Richard Solomons, IHG's chief executive officer, in the preface to the report. One of the keys to creating membership communities is making the members feel special by belonging to the community. "People do not just want to log in," the report points out. "They want to link up." People want relationships, both with a brand and with the other members of a brand community. In this way, members of the community move from being merely opt-ins to advocates.

"The members of brand communities are highly loyal and demonstrate their brand passion through participation, purchase and praise," said Solomon, giving as an example the IHG Rewards Club, the world's first, largest and fastest-growing hotel loyalty program.

Based on research and feedback from its loyalty members, who highlighted the value of being able to share hotel rewards with family and friends, IHG Rewards Club has introduced a new membership level, Spire Elite, to better reward its members with the benefits they requested.

In addition to its loyalty program, IHG builds communities with its guests by catering to specific needs through a family of individualized hotel brands.

For example, when IHG piloted the next-generation guest room for its Crowne Plaza brand, as part of a global rollout of its "always on enhancements" for business travelers, nearly 84 percent of guests who tested the room thought more highly of the brand and 90 percent said they would tell someone about it.

Corporate social responsibility initiatives also create and reinforce the personal feeling of uniqueness and the sense of belonging to a community, by allowing members to connect on social, economic and environmental issues that are important to them.

IHG's corporate responsibility strategy focuses on "doing the right thing in the right way" in the two areas where it believes it can make the most difference: the environment and the community.

"We understand where we can make a positive impact," Patrick Cescau, chairman of IHG, said in the company's recent corporate responsibility report.

Creating a global membership community that reflects both local differences and respects personal individuality is how IHG is creating long-term relationships and a sense of belonging.

The IHG trends reports are based on a series of studies spanning a four-year period, involving nearly 40,000 interviews with travelers across the globe. They track the global decline of trust in institutions, and highlight that consumers now want brand relationships, not just brand experiences.

The 2016 IHG Trends Report was compiled in association with IHG's long-time partner, Arcature, using its own research and observations as well as a variety of external, third party sources.

IHG is one of the world's leading hotel companies, with more than 5,000 hotels in nearly 100 countries around the world.

hannayrichards@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/30/2016 page10)