Big interview
Left: The bar at The Halyard, Liverpool, part of IHG’s
Vignette Collection.
Opposite: Joanna Kurowska, vice- president and managing director, UK & Ireland, IHG Hotels & Resorts.
opening new hotels, supporting development for the new assets and new brands, all of it is part of what I do.” It is down to Kurowska to ensure the smooth running and growth in the market. And for IHG, this only keeps growing. “And when
I say growing,” says Kurowska, “it means signing new hotels, opening hotels and taking care of our existing estates.” Earlier this year, for example, IHG announced nine new hotels across five of its brands in the UK and Ireland. The general plan for the coming year, as Kurowska explains, is made up of three pillars. Firstly, to safeguard the groups reputation and maintain its values and purpose, secondly to drive performance. “For example, [in 2022] we refreshed our loyalty programme to ultimately increase the values to our investors, our guests and our owners.” The IHG loyalty programme boosted 77% of total room revenue in 2022, in combination with mobile applications, added 12.2 million loyalty members, and won multiple awards too. (These numbers include IHG’s 2022 full year results up to 31 December 2022.) And finally, of course, to keep growing the hotel with new deals and opening new hotels. One that Kurowska is particularly keen to highlight is IHG’s first Vignette Collection in Liverpool. “[I’m] very much looking forward to this hotel.
It’s our most recent brand that’s only a year old and our first collection in the country.” Another interesting hotel opening she points to is the voco Zeal Exeter Science Park opening in 2024 in partnership with Zeal Hotels. The first life cycle net zero carbon hotel for both businesses is “one to watch” as the first of its kind in the world. With a vision to be built and operated in a more planet friendly way, this is one project that Kurowska is particularly proud of.
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Shifting expectations With the pandemic is slowly becoming a distant memory, many in the hospitality industry are looking forward to the future. But it is undeniable that the pandemic has had a significant impact on every industry and, to some extent, accelerated a number of changes. However, as Kurowska emphasises, the pandemic was not “this one big, cataclysmic event that happened and suddenly the world was different”. It is possible, she continues, that the world was changing, and the pandemic simply spurred on more focus in particular areas. “I think there is a lot that there is to be said about the trends and the way people travel, people connect, people work. “It is not only our industry that might be seeing
those shifts, it is just that there is a shift in what we value in life.” For instance, some things have remained consistent; connections and spending time together has not changed, but the way in which we do this has changed. “Using [Microsoft] Teams as a medium, it has become a very acceptable way of meeting people without any other introduction – right there is one small change, but it’s massive.” Online meetings and calls have removed the necessity of travel and enabled working from home while maintaining connectivity, which are major consequences of the pandemic. While the pandemic has not fundamentally changed the world, Kurowska points out, it has opened up conversations that might not have happened before. Across hospitality, the major trends happening across the travel industry are happening pretty much across all markets and the globe, says Kurowska. “The trends towards blending leisure and business; that trend towards working from anywhere rather than working from home; the focus of the industry on the next generation of travellers and next generation
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IHG Hotels & Resorts
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