InterContinental Hotels Group is making changes to its loyalty programme, IHG Rewards Club. Following extensive customer research, IHG Rewards Club will introduce a yet to be named new membership level, to better reward its most loyal members with the most relevant benefits. The research also revealed the importance of ‘recognition’ to members who want to feel rewarded for loyalty.

“Our research shows us that members are looking for a personalised experience when they choose one of our family of brands – before, during and after their stay,” says SVP customer loyalty marketing Susanna Freer Epstein. “We want to thank our members for their loyalty by responding to this at every stage of the guest journey, offering experiences that are personally relevant. And we want to say a special thank you to our most loyal members through the introduction of a new top membership level. These enhancements are just the start of a number of exciting new improvements we will be making to the programme in the coming months.”

New improvements being implemented in 2015 and 2016 include the introduction in July of the new top tier membership level for members earning over 75,000 qualifying points or those who have stayed in IHG hotels for 75 nights over the course of a year; changes to the qualification requirements for all memberships, making it easier to earn points; and the introduction of a newe Customer Relationship Management system that enables hotels to better respond to guests’ preferences during their stay.

More controversially, IHG will expire all points for IHG Rewards Club Members if they have not earned or redeemed any points at all in the previous 12 months. www.ihg.com