IHG Owners Association Holds 2015 Summits Throughout North America

The IHG Owners Association, which represents thousands of InterContinental Hotels Group® (IHG) hotel owners worldwide, hosted its annual Owner Summit series across North America over the course of the last four months. With information-packed seminars and networking opportunities, the unique gatherings were designed to provide a forum to share best practices from a regional standpoint for quality and operations, and to also work in partnership with Association and IHG leadership to understand important legislative issues impacting the industry, operational efficiencies and practices, and discussion of travel trends and guest preferences.

The 2015 series was launched in San Francisco on March 31 and then traveled to Orlando, Boston, Toronto, Chicago and ended in Mexico City on June 4.

Highlights of this year's topics include:

• Insight into brand vision and marketing programs, including the importance of leveraging design for guest loyalty and brand consistency,
• The effect of the digital marketplace on revenue and customer acquisition costs,
• Updates on technology developments, and
• Issues impacting the hospitality industry, including minimum wage increases and the problem of false booking reservations sites and its effect on a hotel's reputation.

According to Kerry Ranson, Chairman of the Association and President and Chief Operating Officer of New Orleans-based Expotel Hospitality Services, "The Association works hard to meet with owners and create beneficial networking opportunities. Hundreds of IHG brand owners have participated in the Summits this year. Our agenda provided rich information from the presentations shared by some of our industry's most knowledgeable leaders. The Summits are one of the best ways that our members can gain knowledge and meet like-minded IHG hotel owners."

Speaking at this year's Summits were such notables as Elie Maalouf, CEO, IHG Americas; Jolyon Bulley, COO, IHG Americas; Jim Anhut, IHG Senior Vice President of Design and Quality; Isaac Collazo, IHG Americas Vice President of Performance, Strategy and Planning; Jennifer Gribble, Vice President of Holiday Inn Express, Americas, and Cindy Estis Green, CEO and Co-Founder, Kalibri Labs. Katherine Lugar, President and CEO of AH&LA (American Hotel & Lodging Association) and other AH&LA executive leadership and Doug Denman, Chair of the Owner's Association Industry Advocacy Committee and its INN PAC initiative, were also on hand to discuss issues affecting owners' day-to-day operations and the importance of making their voices heard on Capitol Hill.