16 May 2016

Checking-in to the Future of Luxury Travel

World’s biggest luxury hotel brand teams up with renowned futurist to predict the future of luxury travel

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the world’s leading hotel companies announces that its InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts brand has sought the expertise of Fortune 500 Futurist, Faith Popcorn. The collaboration comes as the InterContinental brand celebrates 70 years of pioneering luxury travel and looks ahead to the next 70 years.

Looking at luxury travel trends of the future, Faith focused specifically on the guest experience, service, destinations as well as hotel design. She believes that Virtual Reality (VR) escapism and immersive brand experiences will shape service and guest experiences in the future of luxury travel:

  • Clanning Experiences: VR technology will enable real-time sharing of adventure and luxury among friends or family who are spread around the world. It will mean that guests and their loved ones can enjoy simulated adventures in real-time, whether it be a walk through the Serengeti or an ocean swim with extinct marine life.
  • Customised Wardrobes: Hotels will partner with fashion brands to sponsor guests’ in-room wardrobes, complete with 3D printed designer clothing. Wardrobes will be customised to suit personal taste based on online shopping habits, size and local weather conditions.
  • Fantasy Escapes: Luxury as we know it today will become so accessible that consumers will seek more extreme and un-attainable experiences. Hotels will provide guests with game-like environments for fantasy escapes, which could involve living out danger in a safe environment.

Described as “The Trend Oracle”, Faith Popcorn has worked with leading Fortune 500 companies to help them accurately predict consumer trends. With a documented 95% accuracy rate, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts teamed up with Faith as part of the brand’s ongoing commitment to remain at the forefront of luxury travel.

Futurist Faith Popcorn commented: “In envisioning with InterContinental Hotel & Resorts to mark their 70-year anniversary, we’ve forecast what the future holds for luxury travel. Consumers will be craving immersive experiences which will allow them to indulge in luxury in both a physical and a virtual sense. By harnessing Virtual Reality (VR) and the constant flow of personal likes, dislikes and bio-data, hotels will be able to provide guests with once-in-a-lifetime experiences seamlessly and spontaneously—or so it will seem.”

By 2086, as space itself becomes the ultimate luxury, VR will evolve interior design so that it can be tailored by guests, and luxury travel will offer access to never-before-explored locations and immersive experiences:

  • Building Down: With 70% of the world’s population set to be urban by 2050, the design and structure of luxury hotels will change dramatically with brands set to adopt new architectural solutions such as ‘building down’, to fit to the changing landscape.
  • Immersive Spaces: Guests will be able to design spaces specifically tailored to their personal aesthetics and needs. From customisable holographic wall art to fully adjustable interior design, guests will be treated to state of the art facilities to ensure maximum satisfaction and relaxation.
  • World Experience: Different wings or rooms in hotels will be created to offer guests a taste of cultural experiences from different corners of the world – from golden Caribbean beaches to white blanket ski slopes, all located in the same hotel.

In order to continue creating new experiences for guests that elevate the everyday, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts have teamed up with world famous interior designer specializing in luxury hotel design, Tara Bernerd, for the development of the brand’s new design philosophy.

Commenting on the future of luxury design in hotels Tara Bernerd said:

“InterContinental Hotels & Resorts are constantly looking to evolve their interiors and aesthetic to make their properties more unique and luxurious for guests. Interior architecture and design play a very powerful part of a guest’s experience and I am delighted to be supporting InterContinental Hotels & Resorts on their new design philosophy that will hope to see them continue to push the boundaries of luxury travel into the future.”

InterContinental Hotel & Resorts is set to break new territory once again, with the development of the Songjiang Quarry Hotel in China. The hotel is set to be built in a 90m deep quarry outside of Shanghai. Boasting cascading waterfalls, extreme sport facilities such as bungee jumping and rock climbing, underwater bedrooms and cutting-edge conference facilities, it is set to be the greenest hotel ever built, with plans to power the luxury resort with geothermal and solar energy.

Simon Scoot, VP Global Brand Strategy at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts added:

“Our collaboration with Faith Popcorn and partnership with Tara Bernerd further ensures the InterContinental brand remains at the forefront of luxury travel. Innovation and pioneering spirit is in the InterContinental brand’s DNA. Since the launch of the brand in 1946, followed by the opening of the first hotel in Belem, Brazil, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts opened the gateway to a whole new world of glamour and discovery for a jet-set generation. 70 years on, as global travel has transformed, the InterContinental brand has evolved and adapted with it.

With nine iconic openings in the last year including new hotels in London, Dubai, and Chennai, and the upcoming opening of InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun later this year, as well as the re-opening of the iconic InterContinental New York Barclay, the brand continues to build its luxury legacy.

Ends

For further information please contact:

Jovana Lakcevic
[email protected]
+44 (0) 1895 512 864

About IHG®

IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & ResortsKimpton® Hotels & RestaurantsHUALUXE® Hotels and ResortsCrowne Plaza® Hotels & ResortsHotel Indigo®EVEN® HotelsHoliday Inn® Hotels & ResortsHoliday Inn Express®Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,000 hotels and 742,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with nearly 1,400 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme with nearly 94 million members worldwide.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 350,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihg.com/media and follow us on social media at: www.twitter.com/ihgwww.facebook.com/ihg and www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

About IHG

IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & ResortsKimpton® Hotels & RestaurantsHUALUXE™ Hotels and ResortsCrowne Plaza® Hotels & ResortsHotel Indigo®EVEN® Hotels, Holiday Inn® Hotels & ResortsHoliday Inn Express®Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,000 hotels and nearly 742,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with nearly 1,400 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme, with nearly 94 million members worldwide. 

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 350,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations andwww.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihg.com/media and follow us on social media at: www.twitter.com/ihg, www.facebook.com/ihg and www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

Each year, IHG publishes the IHG Trends Report, which looks at key trends shaping the consumer landscape. For more information visit www.ihgplc.com/trends_report 

About Faith Popcorn

Best-selling author of The Popcorn Report, Clicking, EVEolution, Dictionary of the Future and the upcoming, Popcorn Report 2020: A Leap of Faith. Faith Popcorn is a world renowned Futurist and founder and CEO of Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, the Trend-based future-focused marketing consultancy she established in 1974. The New York Times has called her “The Trend Oracle," Fortune Magazine named her, “The Nostradamus of Marketing," and she is recognized as America’s foremost Trend expert. With a documented 95% accuracy rate, Faith predicted the demand for fresh foods and four-wheel drives. She was the first to anticipate the explosive growth of home delivery, home businesses and home shopping. Additionally, she predicted the rise of Social Media. Her FutureView, which focuses on how Trends are affecting consumer lifestyles, has been presented to thousands of audiences across the globe.

About Tara Bernerd & Partners

Tara Bernerd & Partners is a leading international interior architecture and design practice specialising in luxury hospitality. Tara and her team of highly-experienced architects and designers have worked with a number of the world’s leading hotel brands including Four Seasons, Thompson Hotels, Starwood and SIXTY Hotels. The practice distinguishes itself through its point-of-view to the future of travel and the ever-evolving experience of the luxury hotel patron. Tara’s elevated aesthetic vision has won the practice flagship projects in London, New York, Miami and Los Angeles and beyond. This year, Tara takes on the additional role of lead design consultant to InterContinental Hotels Group regarding the creative redesign of the brand and its vision for the future of over 180 InterContinental Hotels & Resorts it operates globally.