IHG is beginning to roll out natural language search on its IHG.com website and its IHG One Rewards mobile app. This launch had been planned since early June, at the same time as the announcement of a British group's application in ChatGPT. And this development is now becoming a reality in beta version, and for now only in the United States before a gradual expansion to other markets.
Concretely, travellers will be able to describe their needs in natural language – desired destination, reason for travel, desired amenities, and other preferences – to receive hotel recommendations accompanied by interactive maps, descriptions of the establishments, and their real-time availability. As for booking, prices will be displayed in cash, but also in points, with stays being payable by combining the two.
" The launch of conversational search on IHG's digital channels is transforming the way customers interact with IHG, said Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer of IHG Hotels & Resorts. This is a key step building on several years of strategic investments in our digital foundations, including the unification of our data in the cloud and the continuous evolution of our industry-leading technology platforms. "
This conversational search, in addition to the recently launched IHG application within ChatGPT, is paving the way for further steps. IHG plans to roll out an AI-optimised content platform in the coming months to enable hoteliers to feed it with richer information such as videos or floor plans. This will improve the visibility of their establishments in conversational search engines. Among the planned developments, IHG is working on more personalised search experiences and booking capabilities." Agency ".
