Within our global economy, the impact of advancing technology on the hospitality industry cannot be overstated. IHG has invested significantly in our technology platforms, cloud-based capabilities, and AI capabilities in recent years to enable us to deliver seamless, powerful digital experiences across the guest journey and easily make future enhancements at pace and at scale. 

Sopah Shah Featured in AI in Procurement Champions Index 

This investment in technology has been recognized, as Sopan Shah, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at IHG Hotels & Resorts, was recently included in the AI in Procurement Champions Index for his contributions to these endeavors. This index is published by CPOstrategy, a subsidiary of B2e Media, which aims to provide valuable insight into modern procurement processes, technologies, practices, and journeys.   

Shah was also interviewed alongside Jennifer Moceri, CPO at Google, for an article featured in CPOStrategy’s AI in Procurement Playbook, available for download here. They discussed the importance of building a robust AI infrastructure to support long-term strategic initiatives. 

When asked about the successes he’s seen in creating a strong AI infrastructure for long-term strategy, Shah said “We’re witnessing a technology-driven renaissance, with digital-first and AI-forward approaches that include the rise in use and implementation of GenAI...Overall, there are multiple exciting use cases emerging in procurement. The innovation happening now is just the beginning, and it will be thrilling to see what developments unfold in the next few years.” 

How IHG Uses AI  

IHG’s adoption of AI has permeated our technology strategy. For example, IHG has created a GenAI Steering Committee, where leaders from across Technology, Marketing and Business Reputation & Responsibility are providing clear guidance and prioritizing how we use this technology to unlock value and drive competitive advantage for IHG while ensuring people remain at the heart of our business.  

AI is also playing an important role in how IHG engages with our guests, including providing a more intuitive customer experience for our Digital Concierge chatbot service. With the growth in AI capabilities and our scale investment, IHG increased end-to-end AI-led customer self-service by 53% in 2023 compared with a year earlier. 

To further fuel new customer experiences, we announced an expanded partnership with Google Cloud in April 2024 within the IHG One Rewards mobile app. With Google Cloud’s technologies, IHG will launch a generative AI-powered travel planning capability that can help guests easily plan their next vacation directly in the IHG One Rewards mobile app in a suite of new features, creating a more dynamic digital guest experience.