INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group’s (IHG) China Ready programme is in full swing as its various properties around the world lay out the welcome mat for Chinese visitors.
Rolled out in April, China Ready is meant to prepare IHG hotels to meet growing Chinese arrivals and covers 85 hotels in more than 24 countries to date.
It includes hiring trained Chinese chefs, providing cultural awareness training to staff, adding a UnionPay payment option, tailoring F&B offerings, and bringing in Mandarin-language television channels in hotel rooms.
For instance, one-third of employees at Holiday Inn Resort Waikiki Beachcomber are fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.
InterContinental San Francisco publishes Mandarin-language brochures and its area creative director, Connie Perez, said: “We target Chinese MICE groups opting for destination outside Asia as they want new experiences and something different in US and Europe.”
IHG also launched Hualuxe Hotels and Resorts in 2012, which it plans to introduce to 100 cities across Greater China over the next two decades and to key international destinations, said IHG Greater China, CEO, Kenneth Macpherson.
A new sales office was opened in Taiwan last month to serve its properties in Greater China and increasing outbound demand from the region.
