Conversion teardownIHG. Book direct.
Every hotel group fights the booking sites for the same guest. IHG’s answer is to make booking direct the easy choice.
We took apart the IHG Hotels & Resorts reservation page, the start of the booking journey for one of the world’s largest hotel groups, and looked at where its conversions come from. Here is what it does to win the booking, and what we would test next.
- Brand
- IHG Hotels & Resorts
- Page
- Reservation and search
- Focus
- Direct bookings and conversion
- Type
- Independent teardown
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Where the bookings came fromFive markets. Four in five sales.
Share of conversions by country last month, from IHG’s affiliate programme. Five Asia-Pacific markets account for 78.5% of them.
01 Speak their language
The top five markets read Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. Pages and promotions in each language convert better than one English page for all.
02 Run on their clock
Japan is seven hours ahead of South Africa. Campaigns, emails and social posts should land when those markets are awake and planning trips.
03 Plan for their calendar
Golden Week, Lunar New Year, Chuseok and Australian school holidays drive travel in these markets. Promotions timed to them meet demand instead of chasing it.
What convertsFour things it gets right.
- 01
Search before story
The booking bar sits above everything else: destination, dates, rooms and guests, and one bright Search button. A guest who knows where they are going can start in seconds.
- 02
Loyalty is the offer
“Join for free” sits in the header and the hero promises up to three times the points. The reason to book direct is clear before anyone compares prices.
- 03
The rate fits the guest
A rate preference sits inside the search, so members and points bookers see their rates from the first result instead of hunting for them later.
- 04
Help is on screen
A phone number and “Chat with us” sit at the top of every page. For a booking worth thousands, knowing a person is there removes a reason to leave.
What we would testThree ideas to try.
- 01
A lighter first view
On a first visit a language prompt and a cookie banner stack over the page and hide most of the offer. A single, slimmer consent bar, with the language remembered from the browser, would give the offer its space back.
- 02
The offer in the market’s words
With most conversions coming from five Asia-Pacific markets, test the hero in each market’s language and with destinations travellers there search for most.
- 03
AI search where people start
The new AI search is in beta under the booking bar. For guests who know the kind of trip but not the city, test giving it equal weight with the destination box.
For South African brandsWhat to take from it.
- 01Put the action first: the search, the product or the price, before the brand story.
- 02Give a reason to buy direct that a marketplace cannot match, such as points, perks or a better rate.
- 03Show that a person can help, especially on big-ticket purchases.
- 04Know where your sales come from, then speak those customers’ language and keep their hours.
- 05Keep consent and pop-ups out of the way of the first thing a visitor came for.
Artive is not affiliated with IHG Hotels & Resorts, and IHG did not commission this teardown. Links to IHG are affiliate links: if you book through them, Artive may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Screens are shown for commentary. IHG and its brands are trademarks of their owners.
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