As of March 31, 2024, 12 of the 19 Intercontinental Hotels Group brands have entered the greater China region.
01
Intercontinental Hotels Group's global luxury boutique hotel road show debuted in Greater China.
As one of the earliest international hotel management groups to enter the Chinese market, InterContinental Hotels Group recently held the world's first luxury boutique hotel road show in Greater China, landing in three cities: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Chengdu, showcasing the rich brand portfolio and products of the group .
Shanghai Seagull Lijing Hotel (top), Qingcheng Mountain Liushan Hotel (bottom left), and Hong Kong Lijing Hotel (bottom right).
As of March 31, 2024, among the 19 global brands of the group, 12 brands have entered Greater China, and the number of luxury boutique hotels that have opened or are under construction is close to 200, providing guests with diverse and high-quality accommodation experiences. Six Senses Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Selection, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, and other brands with distinctive styles of the group satisfy consumers' yearning for a better travel life through supply and demand.
Sheshan Shimao Intercontinental Hotel in Shanghai (top), Beijing Lijing Hotel (bottom left), and Hotel Indigo Shanghai On The Bund (bottom right).
Focusing on consumers' personalized needs, InterContinental Hotels Group creates colorful benefits that guests can freely choose. Through excellent service and continuous innovation, it enhances guest loyalty programs and related member benefits. The global guest loyalty program IHG Rewards Club has been fully upgraded to provide guests with one-stop colorful experiences such as accommodation, entertainment, travel, and shopping, and members can also participate in quarterly incentive promotions of all brands. The InterContinental Ambassador VIP program, as an extension program of IHG Rewards Club, is committed to leaving guests with eternal and beautiful memories of their stay in InterContinental Hotels & Resorts. The Kimpton Inner Circle program highlights the way Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants treat guests and invites the most loyal guests to enjoy extraordinary benefits.
IHG Rewards Club VIP Box provides a 360-degree immersive audio and visual experience.
The group also uses up-to-date technology services to comprehensively improve the experience of leisure and business travelers in payment and booking links. For leisure travelers, InterContinental Hotels Group has teamed up with China UnionPay to release a hotel cardless pre-authorization solution, which provides assistance for efficient management of hotel side and convenient payment for foreign visitors to China. For business travelers, it provides convenient services for corporate customers in overseas business travel through cooperation with domestic and foreign travel management companies. In addition, the "IHG Meeting Room Reservation" mini-program opens the display function of overseas hotels, optimizing the experience of overseas business travel booking.
InterContinental Hotels Group and China UnionPay jointly embark on a new chapter of hotel scene digital payment.
02
McLaren celebrates its 200th anniversary with music and film.
Macallan celebrates its 200th anniversary with songs and films. Macallan single malt Scotch whisky, together with the well-known singer Emily Sande, celebrate the significant milestone of Macallan's establishment. Emily Sande and Oli Green drew inspiration from Macallan's historical heritage to create a new song, which will also appear in an exclusive music film starring actor David Tennant.
The song "Origin" passionately praises Macallan's extraordinary historical heritage. After two centuries of precipitation, Macallan has always adhered to the promise of nurturing naturally, passed down the craftsmanship from generation to generation, and adhered to the community spirit from the beginning. It also looks to the future, embracing infinite possibilities. This melodic song vividly expresses Macallan's brand heritage that has been renewed over time. Emily grew up in Aberdeenshire in northeast Scotland, and has a strong sense of belonging to her hometown. Similarly, the Macallan estate, located in the Scottish Speyside, is also closely intertwined with Scotland's natural beauty and cultural heritage.
The music film with "Origin" as the soundtrack was directed by Jeremy Ruzan, ingeniously integrating Macallan's past, present, and future to present audiences with a journey across time. The opening of the film is warm and moving. Emily sang sincerely in the unique private wine cellar (Cave Privée) of Macallan Distillery. Scottish actor David Tennant played two roles, shuttling back and forth between Macallan's history and future, vividly telling how Macallan has renewed and continued in the river of history of the past two centuries, and firmly moving towards a brighter future.
03
300th anniversary of Rémy Martin House bartender celebration event comes to an end.
The Remy Martin 300 Years Bartender Celebration Competition and Barrel-aged Cocktail Competition recently concluded in Shanghai, celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Hennessy distillery. With the theme of "saluting history, precipitating the present, and super future", eleven contestants from four major districts used their exquisite cocktail-making skills and extraordinary creativity to interpret the charm of 300 years of cognac from Hennessy for the audience. In the end, Ellen Xu Zihua from the Chimney Bar in Hangzhou won the Chinese title with her "Golden Hour" barrel-aged cocktail and "Let There Be Light" super future cocktail.
Ellen Xu Zihua from the Chimney Bar in Hangzhou won the Chinese title.
The competition not only tested the contestants' basic cocktail making skills and the creativity and relevance of their entries, but also required the participants to have a deep understanding of the Hennessy brewing process and the 300-year history behind it. There were also evaluations on sustainable development and interactions with consumers to comprehensively test the contestants' abilities from multiple dimensions, ensuring that they not only excelled in their skills, but also had potential and awareness to lead the industry's future development.
Throughout the regional tournament, contestants were required to present two creative cocktails with different themes. The first barrel-aged cocktail named "Time Capsule" was based on the theme of "saluting history". It was meant to express a segment of French history between 1724 and 2024. The core of this part was to test contestants' understanding of French history, their familiarity with the Hennessy brand story, their professional knowledge of cognac brewing, and their creativity. In addition, the cocktail had to use at least one self-made raw material to further test the bartender's basic skills and innovation capacity. The contestants' "Time Capsule" cocktail not only had to be reproduced at the final competition, but also sold in the bartender's bar during the regional tournament for further evaluations from consumers.
"Time Capsule" cocktail vividly demonstrates the contestants' unique creativity in the framework of history and culture.
Eleven strong contestants gathered in Shanghai on the eve of the final competition, competing to create the last cocktail of the event, the "Super Future". Before the competition, they needed to draw a super food blind box and create a cocktail that nature loved and connected with both body and mind using the ingredients inside. The ingredients were rather difficult to use, such as shiitake mushrooms, spirulina, fig leaves, and beet roots. In the final competition, the eleven contestants needed to make two pairs of cocktails in limited time for the judges. This stage required contestants to integrate innovation with tradition within an extreme time limit, showcasing their excellent professional qualities and deep understanding of sustainable development.
"Super Future" cocktail tests the contestants' ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances, as well as their understanding of industry sustainability.
To stimulate the contestants' inspiration, Hennessy carefully prepared the "Super Future" master class with the theme of "future cocktail trends outlook", discussing the development of the bartending industry, natural balance, sustainability, and the application of superfoods. In addition, the brand arranged a BIO FARM interactive activity to help contestants relax and release the tension before the competition and to welcome the intense competition in the best condition possible.
04
Yalago releases the 2024 trends in hotel bookings for Chinese tourists.
Yalago, a rapidly growing global wholesaler for vacation hotel bookings, under the umbrella of the Emirates aviation group, unveiled the most popular destination countries among Chinese tourists for 2024. Ranked by popularity, they are Dubai, Mexico's Riviera Maya, Bali, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Located in Dubai, Yalago is well known for its competitive hotel prices. During the 2024 ITB Shanghai International Tourism Trade Fair, Yalago displayed its global hotel product lineup, and announced the latest booking trends among Chinese tourists.
According to Yalago, the United Arab Emirates is currently the most popular destination country for international hotel bookings by Chinese tourists. Compared with January to May in 2023, booking volume has increased by 11% this year. Globally, Chinese tourists make up 54% of all five-star hotel bookings. Yalago attributed this growth to the abundant landscape and luxurious hotels of the Emirates, which are also close to many world famous attractions.
In order to further expand its global business scope in 2024, Yalago is growing its existing team in the Chinese market to increase the number of direct hotel bookings. Yalago has established contacts with many well-known travel platforms in China and plans to expand cooperation while continuing to focus on providing high-quality travel products.