ATLANTA - InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced a significant deployment milestone of IHG Connect, its industry-leading guest Internet solution. IHG Connect is on track to be live in 1,500 hotels in the Americas region by the end of the year, with plans to roll out the platform to all 5,000+ IHG hotels worldwide.
Launched in 2015, IHG Connect delivers a faster, more reliable and consistent hotel Internet guest experience by combining significantly increased bandwidth and state-of-the art, cloud-based Wi-Fi technology. A key component of IHG Connect is the auto recognition feature for IHG's loyalty members, where guests only need to sign in once to access hotel Wi-Fi at all IHG Connect-enabled hotels. They will automatically be connected for all future visits.
Additional IHG Connect features include:
- Unlimited device connectivity, allowing guests to connect and access Wi-Fi easily across multiple devices
- Consistent, dedicated Wi-Fi access to accommodate increased demand and volume
- Ability to manage bandwidth spikes for surge periods, including during large meetings and corporate events
- Proactive, 24/7 cloud-based monitoring and centralized technical support
- Hotels enabled with IHG Connect will have substantial built-in capacity for growth to accommodate future demands. IHG Connect also lays the foundation for new offerings in the future such as in-room entertainment, location-based marketing and future systems innovation - including personalized landing pages for loyalty members.
Jeff Eckard, Vice President of Technology, The Americas at IHG said: "It's no secret that in today's technology landscape, consumers demand reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi that can perform consistently and effectively. In fact, our new survey demonstrates that consumers want better performance from Wi-Fi when they are on the road – and that's exactly what IHG Connect delivers. This solution transforms the guest Internet experience at our IHG-branded hotels and creates real value for owners. Early adopter IHG Connect-enabled hotels have already seen a double-digit increase in their guest Internet satisfaction scores."
IHG Connect builds on a track record of leadership in guest Internet. IHG was the first global hotel company to introduce free guest Internet for IHG Rewards Club members in 2013.
While many hotels have shared Internet access, IHG Connect-enabled hotels have dedicated Wi-Fi access to accommodate increased volume through a pipe that goes directly to the property. IHG Connect-enabled hotels have also increased the minimum bandwidth standard by more than four times – with the threshold increasing as hotel size increases – to meet all of guests' technology needs, such as checking email, looking up information, streaming movies and accessing documents for meetings and conferences.
A new survey* conducted on behalf of IHG revealed that an overwhelming majority of consumers are frustrated with public Wi-Fi networks – such as those accessed at a hotel, coffee shop, airport, restaurant or retail location – with 71 percent reporting they encountered issues such as slow or interrupted service, or difficulty logging in. Additionally, 86 percent of consumers think public Wi-Fi networks should be easier to connect and login to, and 85 percent think these networks should be built to support multiple devices and streaming.
*This survey was conducted by KRC research on behalf of IHG online between October 17 and October 18, 2016, among 1,113 adults ages 18+ in the U.S. who have accessed a public Wi-Fi network.
