IHG Hotels & Resorts on March 3 will launch enhancements to its Meet with Confidence groups program, and unveil a new landing page for it, the company told BTN. IHG initially created the program in April 2020 to offer flexibility to group planners, then in September expanded it to incorporate the company's Way of Clean hygiene and cleanliness initiative into it.
One key change to the program is that IHG will offer two hybrid meeting options, dubbed "smart" and "expert." The smart solution, part of which already exists, builds upon IHG Connect, the company's technology and Wi-Fi platform, which sits in the cloud and allows for an unlimited number of devices to be connected. The expert solution offers more advanced technology, such as the ability to connect multiple venues, as in a hub-and-spoke scenario, along with virtual attendees. IHG is using existing partnerships, such as with event production firm PSAV/Encore, to offer the service to group clients.
The smart solution will be available at participating IHG properties globally, except in Greater China. The expert solution initially will be offered in 100 "early adopter" hotels across the United States and the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia region, but with "plans to scale quickly across the rest of the globe," said Ginger Taggart, IHG VP of brand management for global Crowne Plaza and Voco Americas. It also will be available across brands, chain scales and locations—suburban, urban and resort properties—but particularly in the Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, Kimpton and Holiday Inn brands, she added.
IHG also will provide deeper training for staff who are working on hybrid meetings, which have different needs than traditional in-person meetings or events. "We are looking at this as an ongoing need in the industry, as elements that will be here to stay," Taggart said. "We want to ensure our colleagues are not only 100 percent laser-focused on all of the experiences they are bringing to life for guests in our hotels, but really thinking about the meeting planner needs for connecting virtually and hybrid events."
The company also has three new partnerships for the Meet with Confidence program, two of which are available to both smart and expert technology users. One new partnership is with Weframe, a technology for videoconferencing, particularly for collaboration, Taggart said, adding that the service was added based on demand from clients for deeper collaboration options. It replaces the need for projectors, screens, flipcharts, whiteboards and sticky notes. "It's almost like brainstorming and writing together in the same room," she said. It is available at properties in the United States and Europe.
The second partnership is with Wellness 4 Humanity, which offers onsite rapid Covid-19 testing for meeting and event clients at IHG-branded hotels. That service currently is available only in the United States.
The third partnership, available only with the expert solution and exclusively for IHG hotels in the U.S., is with Williams-Sonoma. The company will provide meeting planners with a curated digital catalogue of food-and-beverage experiences for virtual attendees.
The hybrid offerings represent one of the five pillars around which the Meet with Confidence program is designed. The Williams-Sonoma partnership enhances the "delicious" pillar offering. The program includes IHG's Way of Clean protocols, meeting the "clean and safe" pillar. The "simplified" pillar is addressed through streamlined contracting at participating smart solution hotels plus templates for group resume and banquet event orders for the expert solution, and with no cancellation fees or attrition fees for guest rooms not booked. For the "rewarding" pillar, IHG offers up to a 5 percent rebate toward the master bill and IHG Business Rewards points for planners and bookers. That deal is being offered for bookings made by June 30, 2021, for meetings or stays that take place by Dec. 31, 2021.
Taggart stressed the importance of the five pillars working together for the program. "We hear from meeting and event planners, while there is continuing desire for face-to-face, that hybrid meetings will be a trend that will continue," she said. "Our structure across these five pillars and the two levels of technology is ensuring we have a platform we will continue to build on for years to come, adding more robust offerings, adding new partners, and ensuring we are building this based on the evolving needs of the industry."