InterContinental Hotels Group was honored in October by the Web Marketing Association, and Technology Association for successfully reaching the global travel market through its foreign language Web sites.
IHG received a Standard of Excellence Award by the Web Marketing Association's WebAwards for outstanding achievement in the development of its eight foreign language Web sites. IHG also earned the inaugural Excalibur Award, given by the Technology Association of Georgia, for the competitive advantage the company created via these Web sites.
"Reaching millions of travelers through foreign language Web sites is one of the ways IHG is earning its reputation as the world's most global hotelier," said Eric Pearson, senior vice president, E-Commerce, IHG. "The sites have been very successful in increasing IHG's revenue and helping to grow Priority Club Rewards enrollment, and they allow IHG to continue providing leadership through innovation."
In the last five years, IHG created eight fully functional Web sites in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. These sites are important to the company because Web users are three times more likely to conduct a business transaction online when addressed in their own language, according to Forrester Research.
Since 2000, IHG's global Web sites have steadily driven growth for the company. For example, in 2004, all foreign language sites combined to generate more than $70 million in incremental revenues, including more than $1 million per month from the Spanish language site. And in the first two weeks after going live, the Japanese language site generated $250,000 in revenue.
Additionally, since the foreign language sites began offering the conveniences that the English sites offer, membership in Priority ClubŪ Rewards has increased by 28 percent globally; membership in the Asia Pacific region grew 51 percent; Mexico and South America grew 48 percent; and Europe, Middle East and Africa grew 44 percent from 2003 to 2004. Priority Club Rewards is IHG's guest loyalty program and the hotel industry's largest and fastest growing program.
The 2005 Standard of Excellence recognition and Excalibur Award are the most recent awards that IHG's E-Commerce team has earned, including:
- Baseline Magazine ROI Leadership Award for Growth (2005)
- Adrian Awards Web Marketing Best of Show (2004)
- Freddie Awards Best International Web Site (2002-2004)
- Etail Award for online marketing innovations (2004)
- Keynote SystemsŪ Speediest Hotel Web Site (2004)
- Computerworld Magazine Wireless Innovator Award (2001)
- InfoWeek Best Wireless Company (2001)
