CHICAGO— The mood has been upbeat here at the 2004 InterContinental Hotels Group Americas Investors and Leadership Conference, which kicked off yesterday morning at the McCormick Place Convention Center, putting to rest any thought the lodging mothership known as InterContinental Hotels Group had been fractured following the recent departure of its chief executive, Richard North, from the U.K.-based company. The tone was set early on during the opening egneral session by Stevan Porter, president-The Americas, who drilled down for the more than 3,500 attendees the myriad challenges weathered and triumphs enjoyed by both the industry at large and IHG in the two years since IHG first declared it would return to being a pure-play hotel company. “Two years ago, we were part of a huge conglomerate. Today, we are a hospitality brand company focused on hotels, with broadened leadership, and recognized capability in branding, operating and franchising hotels,” said Porter. He drove home the message delivered in mid-September by Chairman and interim CEO, David Webster, that the global lodging giant overall would be shifting its focus toward branding and management, but without losing site of its core competency of franchising. Webster himself took to the stage at one point to address the exuberant crowd, which didn’t as much as shuffle a paper as he spoke. He got to the point quickly. “I had and have great respect for Richard North. He and I had an excellent working relationship, and I admire the job he did in establishing InterContinental Hotels Group as a standalone company. This role played fully to his skills in finance and strategy development. But as I looked ahead to the needs of the company over the next several years, it became clear to me that, going forward, the skills we needed in terms of branding and operations were not the ones Richard brought to the table and he would be the first to agree,” said Webster. “So we decided to fix things before they broke.” As previously reported in HOTEL BUSINESS®, the search is under way for North’s successor with both internal and external candidates under consideration. Said Webster: “While there will be some change at the top, I want to stress that two critical elements of our company will not change: Our strategy and our values…” Noting that the entire enterprise needs to work as one team, the chairman— much to the delight of the audience— picked up on what has become the operating mantra of the IHG, and added: “Because, as you’ve heard: ‘Together, We’re Stronger.’” Porter said his division has made “enormous progress” on goals it set for itself two years ago, including growth through sales gains, new hotel development, the introduction of new brands— the first Hotel Indigo opens today in Atlanta— and focused support to deliver on owner ROI expectations. “We are a company on the move, with no signs of stopping. Because we can’t,” he said, acknowledging, “We are not yet where we want to be.” In the months ahead, Porter said the division would look to achieve clarity for each of the brands— Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites and Hotel Indigo. Specifically, Porter is looking to improve the quality of the Holiday Inn guest experience; strengthen the Crowne Plaza brand further; deliver rapid growth for InterContinental Hotels; tighten integration between brand perfomance results and contributions from value drivers Priority Club Rewards, reservation channels, revenue management, technology and global sales; and solidify relationships— from owners to GMs to staff to the IAHI— and receive feedback.
Stevan Porter President/Americas InterContinental Hotels Group