IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, today launched Travel Consultant Connection, an online resource and educational site created to help travel consultants worldwide strengthen their understanding of IHG brands and better serve their clients.

Located online at /, Travel Consultant Connection includes IHG brand information and property details, new hotel openings and newly created incentives and promotions designed specifically for travel consultants.

Travel Consultant Connection also includes IHG Agent University, five hours of interactive training accredited by the Travel Institute. The course content provides facts about IHG, the Priority Club® Rewards loyalty program and offers overviews of all seven brands in the IHG portfolio - InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®.

"At IHG we recognize travel consultants have an important impact on the success of our business," said Stephen Powell, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales, IHG. "With Travel Consultant Connection we're helping consultants learn more about our brands and we're offering new incentives to make it easier for them to experience our properties for themselves."

The Travel Consultant Connection site includes a comprehensive collection of information for agents, including travel industry discount rates, IHG Commission Services, GDS Format Guides, descriptions of the most commonly booked IHG rates and help desk numbers for travel agent support. For non-GDS users, there is a direct link to IHG's brand websites which will help secure the agency commission earnings.

Consultants who visit IHG's Travel Consultant Connection site will also be able to enroll and earn points in Priority Club Rewards. In addition, IHG plans to use the site to introduce promotions throughout the year that are specifically for travel consultants. Those promotions include the new Travel Industry Discount Rate program, which gives travel counselors a very competitive rate and the ability to earn additional Priority Club Reward points.

Consultants in the United States, Canada (excluding Quebec), Mexico, United Kingdom and Germany can be registered to win 50,000 Priority Club Rewards points following the successful completion of the IHG Agent University online course. The course includes information about IHG and its brands as well as rates for guests and travel consultants. IHG will draw 20 winners per week beginning May 3 through Aug. 27, 2010.

Initially, Travel Consultant Connection will be in English only but sites in other languages are expected to be available in the near future.

About IHG®

IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.

With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Stephen Boggs
Senior Corporate Communications Manager
770-604-5793
IHG

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