Introduction  •  How Did We Measure Up?  •  Corporate Responsibility  •  Americas Priorities  •  Highlights  •  Awards  •  Photos
 
Introduction from Elie Maalouf
 
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our senior year of ART U. While the weather in Atlanta certainly kept us on our toes, it didn't stop us from celebrating our successes and seeing what it will take for us to ‘Win Faster' in 2015 and beyond. We had nearly 1,800 colleagues in attendance and hundreds of you tuned in through our live feed. Your passion and enthusiasm came through loud and clear.

As the ‘new guy' at ART U, I really appreciated the warm welcome and the opportunity to meet so many of you in person. And a special thanks to Richard Solomons, who made sure we got things off to a great start.

I've learned a lot, and I look forward to learning more from you and with you. What I know for sure is that winning is about ordinary people rising to extraordinary.
 

In life and in business it doesn't matter how you start the race, or where you are in the middle – what matters is how well you finish.

What matters is that we accelerate and win.

Hit the Books

       
       
       
For us to win faster, we have to focus on three main things: first, our brands have to be the clear leaders in their segments. Second, our guest service has to be consistently memorable. And third, our owner relationships have to be intimate, strong and productive. When we lead in these three areas, we will be the number one company we aspire to be.
- Elie Maalouf

Elie couldn’t get to all your questions, but don’t worry, we’ll get them answered in an upcoming issue of the Communication Bulletin.
Everything we need to win is there – creating preferred brands, leveraging our scale, our loyalty scheme, managing the distribution channels and having a brilliant owner proposition. We don't need to be rethinking this, it's just about getting out and delivering it.
- Richard Solomons
How did we measure up in 2014?

Can we achieve our targets in 2015? I believe we can. Because I have seen what you've done already. And if I can go from a night auditor to a CFO, I know I can do anything. And I know you can, too.
- Gina Speck
Metrics

We hit five of our Winning Metrics:

  • Total revenues from all owned, managed and franchised hotels
  • System size — our total number of open hotel rooms
  • Guest HeartBeat
  • Margin
  • Responsible Business

2014 Highlights

  • Globally, RevPAR increased 6%.
  • 6% increase in total hotel revenues.
  • 10% rise in operating profit, before exceptional items.
  • Best net system growth in five years.
  • Most signings of new deals in six years.

We missed three of our Winning Metrics:

  • Owner HeartBeat
  • Employee Engagement
  • RGI — Revenue Generated Index

In the Americas

  • Grew RevPAR 7.4%.
  • Increased operating profits by 8%.
  • Opened 178 hotels.
  • Saw our highest net system size growth since 2009.
  • Opened the 492-room Holiday Inn Financial District in Manhattan and our first two properties for the EVEN® Hotels brand.
  • Signed 319 hotels — our best performance in six years — including the 900-room, new build InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles.
  • Contributed 68% of the company's operating profit in 2014.
  • Purchased Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants.
2014 Corporate Responsibility Highlights

IHG Green Engage®

  • Avoided over $95 million in costs from energy and water reductions in our company managed estate.
  • Delivered water-saving toolkits to every one of our 232 IHG-branded properties in California, allowing us to save 7 million gallons of water annually.
  • Since 2012, we have reduced our carbon footprint per occupied room by 3% globally and cut our water consumption in hotels in water-stressed areas by 4.2% per room occupied.

IHG® Shelter in a Storm Program

  • Provided shelter and support to 440 colleagues through our IHG® Shelter in a Storm program.
  • Raised almost $840,000 globally for the IHG® Shelter Fund.
  • Responded to 18 disasters across nine countries and donated $10,000 to the American Red Cross to help local relief efforts.

IHG® Academy

  • More than 500 people in the Americas were helped by over 100 IHG Academy programs across all brands, in both managed and franchised properties.
  • Provided job training to almost 6,700 IHG® Academy participants.
  
Illeini Hornsby was homeless and without work, until she entered into an IHG® Academy program that the InterContinental® Stephen F. Austin set up with Goodwill Industries. Now, she has a job as a security officer, an apartment and a future. And the hotel has a great colleague who delivers every day on our promise to create Great Hotels Guests Love®.

Goodwill of Central Texas recently recognized Illeini with their "Participant of the Year" award and the InterContinental® Stephen F. Austin as their "Business Partner of the Year."


• Start an IHG® Academy.
• Support the IHG® Shelter in a Storm Program.
• Help hotels reach the IHG Green Engage® standard.
• Use the Political Action Portal to understand key industry
• issues and their impact on our business.
2015 Americas Priorities
 
When we focus, when we keep things simple and when we keep score, we will win!
- Jolyon Bulley

1. Elevate the Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts brand.

2. Reinforce the Holiday Inn® brand.

3. Embed key hotel solutions.

4. Delivery IHG revenue.

5. Enhance the guest experience.

6. Grow system size.

7. Improve owner proposition.
Catch More Highlights from ART U
 
Learn more about the attributes winning teams share with SVP, Americas HR and Global Functions Lori Gaytan.

No matter what department you work in or what your specific role is, every one of us either supports hotels directly or supports someone who does. Think about what you do, then think about how you can execute even better.
- Lori Gaytan
Get IHG Owner's Association Chairman Kerry Ranson's take on how we'll Win Faster with the IHG Owners Association.
Be PRE-active. See things before they happen. Solve problems before they start. Anticipate what guests want and give it to them, before they even know they want it.
- Kerry Ranson
Take a deeper dive into Brand Performance and Delivery with Oliver Bonke, along with panelists Heather Balsley, Jolyon Bulley, Jeff Eckard, Lara Hernandez and Ricardo Lopez.

We will attract more high-value customers, increase our share of wallet with them and drive for meaningful relationships through our direct channels and programs.
- Oliver Bonke
Watch us grow, as Chief Development Officer Joel Eisemann highlights some of our big signings in 2014 and tells us what's on the horizon.
Watch SVP, Design & Quality Jim Anhut's inspiring "show and tell" of before and after pictures of some of our region's newly renovated hotels.
I encourage everyone on my team and everyone on Team IHG to think like an owner.
- Jim Anhut
Meet Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants CEO Mike DeFrino and find out how we're welcoming our newest addition into the IHG® family.
What are Jeff Eckard's "A, B, C's" of Technology?

Anywhere Check-in
Bandwith improvement
Credit card protection
Our Americas ROC Stars... in a class all by themselves
 
Each member of the Americas ROC nominated a person or team who demonstrated outstanding performance in 2014. The awards were given out by emcee and SVP and General Counsel, The Americas Steve Smith. Please join us in congratulating our winners.
Memories from ART U

Download photos and headshots from ART U.

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