Passing my local Holiday Inn in Swindon UK, one that although I know well I would not have cause to need to stay there as it is quite near home I pulled in.

Firstly I thought it would be interesting to get the hotels view on us guests with status. This Hotel is simple in its room quality (we have discussed this in a thread   http://community.priorityclub.com/thread/1593?tstart=0) in that it has only two grades of room, Standard and executive.

The policy for upgrades is from what I understand as follows:-

1)      Those who are known to be PC members from their reservation and have indicated a preference are so allocated.

2)     Those who have not indicated a preference are upgraded appropriately.

3)     Those who turn up with a reservation without indication their PC level and then ask are given the best available but if not an executive room the water robes etc are made available if enough staff are on duty.

4)     Ambassadors and Royal ambassadors are noted and receive all platinum benefits.

I took the opportunity to appraise the hotel as although I know it well had not taken note of it as a potential guest. It is set on the Eastern side of town close to both the main Motorway (M4) and the eastern bypass, although far enough away not to be bothered by traffic. It has reasonable grounds for a stroll around if the weather is clement. The town centre is close by both public transport and private car as are the main industrial areas. Although built about 40 years ago the hotel keeps an aura of modernity.

https://secure.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/hotel/swimr?rpb=hotel&crUrl=/h/d/pc /1/en/availsearch&ias=y

Swindon is well suited for a touring base for a week end as The Thames valley, Salisbury plain Stonehenge etc are close by as is the large outlet village and adjacent steam museum to keep children happy. The cities of Oxford, Cheltenham, Bath and Bristol are all a shortish drive away although Bath and Bristol are often best using the frequent trains from Swindon.

For those who scrape in on a near empty tank there is a filling station on site and another about 400 yards away.

The so called old town is about two miles away with a good choice of eateries and entertainment.

I would feel comfortable and safe at this Holiday Inn although it does not seem to have been rebranded.

I believe that we can offer suggestions to IHG as to how we may like to see developments to the way our Hotel group operates and in making suggestions could both improve the reservation procedure, the reception and the stay both more enjoyable, cost effective and hope fully more profitable for  us and IHG and its franchisees.

Firstly I will look at the reservation procedure. I believe that it could be easier. I make bookings on other web pages for say flights and make suggestions based on good experiences there. When I look at a leisure break in a hotel and say want to book ten days often I get the  message “ NO Availability” There is no indication as to how many or when those days are, it could be that by moving just one day back or foreword there is. Airline web sites often do show when availability is. As A Royal Ambassador I am guaranteed availability bit you need to know which of the ten days to ask for.

Room description still leaves a lot to be desired, posted some time ago the Carlton Cannes list per their brochure; it was difficult to define which the better room is.

The Hotel Photo galleries although they show in most cases a good selection of pictures the way of viewing them is rather cumbersome. When say looking at online house brochures you only need to click the appropriate thumbnail and the enlarged image appears but we need to close then click then enlarge. I believe that this would be a simple and very helpful to change for IHG.

The calendar would be much more user friendly if it offered a drop down box, it can be frustrating having to click month by month for bookings some time in the more distant future.

Pretty well all IC’s give a great and professional welcome. They usually pre authorise your credit card or charge card so all you need to do is confirm your method of payment and sign. Then often a VIP guide to your room.

Although many CP even HI and HIX are doing this it is not consistent. It should be. After all if other businesses are able to be consistent like at least in the UK the supermarkets the Food chains etc are, why not IHG? As PC members we should always benefit from the offer of a staffed PC check in position.

What is offered in the rooms should meet a minimum standard for each brand.

Choice of TV channels should be appropriate for the country in which we are staying. We recently had a far better choice of TV programmes in a HIX than in the London IC. Mind you the London IC did have a top of the range wide screen Television set. It did seem strange though that the most entertaining programme was in Russian, a superb concert.

It would be great if the PC desk or Ambassador desk was more geared up to do check out as although there are many good options for check out like instant check out often you do need to question something.

Quiet closing doors would be a boon for those who like an early night or a lay in as banging, slamming doors are really annoying. Also sound absorbing materials in the corridors so that those who need to converse in loud voices late at night would be less annoying.

I would like this to be taken as constructive and it may be appropriate for a GM to respond.

As previously mentioned we took our weekend in London at the Intercontinental Park Lane and were pleasantly surprised by it.

Firstly as usual I emailed ahead confirming my bookings. I booked a room at the least expensive rate as well as a room for my In Laws on points.

We arrived early and the car was valet parked. We were upgraded to a one bed room suite with large lounge, dinning area, guest cloak room, and work area. We were informed that club access for Royal Ambassadors could be bought for half price that is £40.00 $65.00. And we were invited to view the club. It has a great view over the Royal Parks of London with glimpses or Westminsterand beyond. Breakfast is always grand in Intercontinentals and the London Hotel is no exception.  We used our Ambassador free night certificate so the weekend cost including the points room breakfasts, two rooms four people £332, ($540) Free use of the mini bar, fruit and water complimentary.

Up West is a phrase used by Londoners who will travel to the west End of London for  the best shopping , hotels and entertainment it is the west end of London but also the City of Westminster. In Park Lane there are a number of 5 star hotels as well as the IC so a stroll up the lane can be rewarded by sightings of the rich and famous. Pak Lane is the Eastern boundary of Hyde Park a large open space with gardens and a lake called the Serpentine. There are a large number of aquatic birds. You can, if feeling energetic go boating on the water.

As this was purely a leisure week end we became tourists which included a Visit to Harrods world famous department store which is aboit half a mile away.

www.harrods.com

The weather was clement and we took a cruise on the River Thames from Westminster pier to Greenwich. Greenwichis 0.00.00 Latitude and hence the centre of Time. The Museum has the Harrison clocks from which were developed accurate time pieces that could be taken on ships to enable accurate positioning to be calculated and so much safer voyages could be undertaken.

We found this cruise more than satisfactory.

http://www.citycruises.com/route.htm

From the Intercontinental, if you are lucky, you can see the Queens’ horse guards returning to barracks by the hotel at about 10.45. AM.

London is generally regarded as a safe city, just take normal precautions keep a firm hand on your handbags ladies, and keep wallets in inside pockets.

London Police are very approachable and most have good tourist knowledge of London and are usually quite helpful to tourists.

London Restaurants have a very big variation in pricing as do the wines in them. It is quite possible to pay; I know not why, over £10,000 a bottle. Even some rare whiskies can be this price as well. However there are many good chains that offer good steaks at reasonable prices such as Angus Steak Houses and Scotch Steak houses.

London has in the West End some 30 Theatres with a broad variety of productions from mainstream Plays and comedies to completely unfathomable productions. Of course there are the Ballets and operas. The Royal opera House and the Festival Hall have a lot of this type of production. The London Sunday Times has most of these listed in the Cultural supplements.

I would recommend a good pair of walking shoes to best see London, always look at buildings as you may see a blue plaque with some historical information on it.

What is our forum all about?

Good question, so starting at the beginning lets look at IHG. Intercontinental Hotels Group which is the largest hotel in the world encompassing a number of brands from Intercontinental Hotels, the upscale end to the business end to Holiday Inn Express and for long term stays at Staybridge Suites.

IHG needs to engage with their customers, I do prefer guests, and to enable them to do this both quickly and efficiently IHG with the help of specialist consultants (Communispace) run a number of forums such as our forum

Priority Club Connect

http://community.priorityclub.com/index.jspa#

Other forums such as the one I was previously with were private and it was a specialised Ambassador forum designed to help formulate the new Ambassador programme launched earlier this year.

IHG runs this forum to enable general feedback to managers and executives and for me to reinforce this let me relate a day I had with IHG.

As previously reported I have been a member of Priority Club for some 15/16 years and Joined Ambassador in 2000. I was staying in an Intercontinental waiting by the front desk and I noticed the Ambassador literature and joined there and then basically $150 for a free night seemed too good to miss. I was immediately upgraded and the staff moved my luggage etc to my new room with all the ambassador extras in it. Two years ago I qualified for Royal status that I so far have maintained. During this time I was one of the first to be involved with the private ambassador forum, the primary objective of this was to contribute to the re- launch of the Ambassador and Royal Ambassador programme. There was considerable discussion and we believed that our input was listened to and that we see our ideas implemented

I was invited to help host the a IHG social Marketing Expo at the brand new IHG headquarters in a country park about 20 miles West of London. Here I served as the voice of our forum sharing stories and experiences about both the private and public online communities. We were able to show why IHG should listen to their most loyal and frequent guests who stay  at their hotels. In this I believe we were successful. There is one thread in discussion asking do they listen. Oh yes they do and receive regular reports as well as following what is relevant to their department.

The Building is indeed very impressive as was the professional welcome by the reception staff. The Expo was in an exhibition centre in the building there were four major segments.

The Delegates were IHG employees, all head office staff were invited, who were introduced to the various forums and what they would do for them. The thread we have regarding where we would like to see new IHG hotels was of interest to the new development team, and for example the rewards team were interested in our discussion on qualifying rates as well as our efforts to share points earning opportunities, getting upgrades and generally sharing good things.

The Visiting General managers from some of the London IHG s were interested in the reviews and comments on visits by guests.

A number of vary high level executives spent quite a bit of time in the Expo, and demonstrations of  our threads etc was illuminating to them.

What do IHG get out of these forums?  Well research suggests that:-

Members are more loyal, as they can have their say.

Members probably are more aware of the hotel opportunities and brands

Members who are probably more likely to accumulate more loyalty points and hence their desire to use these in conjunction with paid stays increase.

I was able to sample the IHG restaurant which had an excellent choice and great presentation. Interestingly the chefs try out potential menus for the various hotel brands here.

Within the exhibition centre are dummy hotel rooms and suites and I was shown what may be the new style Holiday Inn rooms.

In all it was a very interesting and instructive day.

Firstly be points junky then us the points to fly business as we did from London to Nice France. We had the benefits of the new terminal five with the rather grand lounges as well as a quite passable breakfast. The Plane, British Airways, left on time and arrived at the rather efficient airport of Nice allowing a less than twenty five minutes transfer from plane to taxi. The Hotel, our favourite the Carlton InterContinental at Cannes were expecting us and we were greeted by the assistant manager who we have known for some years; He personally showed us to our significantly upgraded room that has a grand view over the bay of Cannes, famous for the film festival; Our room had all the accoutrements that we have come to expect as a Royal Ambassador, such as fresh fruit and ample water; We had another pleasant surprise as we also had an upgrade on the beach to first row beach chairs etc. The mini bar was well stocked with both soft drinks, including water and spirits

We will have stayed 14 nights but only paid for a very modest room for nine as we have used reward nights for the other five. We used our British Airways miles and free companion flight in business for the flight so in all we are well satisfied. It is also wonderful to be recognised by so many of there hotel staffs whom we have got to know offer the lst ten years visiting here.

Particularly nice was the welcome extended by quite junior staff who remembered our names and preferences.

We met a couple from Miami who have returned here for some 40 years. Who says Americans do not travel.

Great Britain, United Kingdom or British Isles it would seem almost if there was an identity crisis here. Great Britain sounds pretentious but it defined the difference between little Britain that was supposedly Brittany in France when the English kings did not know on which side of the sea they wanted to be.

Britain has a full and interesting History dating from 10,000 years.  Bronze was manufactured and traded from a very early time and in the north there are newly explored copper mines.

However today I will deal mainly with London. Relatively speaking London is New only becoming a major settlement about 2000 years ago.

The Romans built extensively in the city part of London. There are excavations around Tower Hill near to Tower Bridge that can be seen easily entering some of the underground railway stations.

London is in fact two cities, the city of London and the City of Westminster. On top of that there are 32 Boroughs of which two are Royal Boroughs. The Royal Boroughs have Palaces such as Buckingham Palace and Hampton Court.

Although the city is the commercial and financial centre there are numerous banks etc at Canary Wharf, this was a development of , for UK high rise buildings. They are built in former docklands area and are to the East of the City, and North of Greenwich.

Let us Stat with the City of London, often called just the City. It is about one square mile and there are over 700 hundred banks registered in the city. Some just have a representative office there.

For the Tourist the main sites are Tower Bridge and The Tower of London. They have a similar appearance architecturally but were built almost a thousand years apart. Tower Bridge is, a typical English thing, registered for insurance purposes as a ship. The Roadway is lifted when ever a ship, etc needs to pass underneath the roadway and the two spans weigh 1000 tons. The bridge was completed in 1894.

On The North of the River You will find to the west of Tower Bridge the Tower of London. The full name is 'Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London' this was Started by The Norman Invaders in 1078. They invaded and conquered England in 1066, the last successful invasion of England, although others have tried non succeeded since. It was expanded and developed over the centauries but the central part is of considerable age. In 1240 The King made it a palace and his home. Henry the V111, the one of many wives had those who he wanted ride of imprisoned there and some executed there, nice fellow.

In more modern times, German spies were executed in the courtyards during the two World Wars, and in 1941, Hitler's deputy - Rudolph Hess, who some say was a trifle odd and flew uninvited at the height of the war to try to persuade the British that Hitler was not all bad was actually imprisoned in the Tower.

The Jewel House is where you'll find the Crown Jewels, a collection of gold, silver and , precious stones

Two permanent features are the Ravens flightless birds, which by superstition by their continued residence ensure the safety of the British Commonwealth. and Beefeaters

I would suggest a visit to :- http://www.hrp.org.uk/

Firstly we need to understand that the IHG site has a lot of information but finding what is relevant to you can be a bit time consuming. Here we have what we have found useful. There are a number of ways to actually approach the site (s) We usually enter by either:-

       http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/

      or

https://secure.ichotelsgroup.com.

Either will have a link to view account.

You will now be able to view you recent history points balance and number of qualifying nights.

You may see this at the top of your activity; note report a points           discrepancy.

There is a link to the Ambassador pages as well. Ambassador Website

On the left of the page is  a tool bar:-

Current reservations and Offer status are the two I use most frequently, but things like having a new card changed or ordered may be done through these links

This is useful as you can track your offers and how far you have got within each offer. More importantly you are able to review you current reservations and by using this link you are able to check, change and see if a better rate has been added. You may do this by using ”edit room /rate type”

By filling in your profile you increase the chances of getting a preferred room type.

Across the top of the page is another tool bar:

Reservations are straightforward but I would draw your attention to Member benefits, and offers. Customer support if you are needeing some assistance  is worth a look

What is important in the hotel

I would have different needs a leisure traveller than when I was a Business traveller. Although some would be for both types of stays. For example

Quietness in the Bedroom area

I should not be able to hear the next rooms TV or radio.

Doors should not bang but be the more modern soft close.

Boisterous conversation of revellers returning late in corridors

Staff should be educated not to shout in corridors.

I do not need to hear heavy feet running in the corridors above.

Water in room

I would think as the local costs of bottled water is now so low that it is only good  guest relations to have a bottle of water or two in every room  in a hotel. Leave the chocolate or cookies for the executive rooms

However for leisure these are my more important issues.

Views

For leisure over a few nights it is for us very important to have a reasonable view over for example the sea or ocean, the countryside or mountains or a high view over a great city skyline.

Pool

If not a sea resort then a pool with a sauna or steam room is desirable and hopefully not excessively busy.

The Hotel should have a reasonable offering in the restaurant department as well as a café open for longish hours. Should the Hotel be an Airport hotel the opening times should reflect the times of early flight departures with an early breakfast option as well as hot food available for those who may be on late flights.

Sitting area in room

When on a leisure stay there are times when a sit down read the papers or a book are just the thing so a comfortable chair or two is a useful requirement.

Business

My business requirements were somewhat different in most cases

Internet

Although not a keen user of the internet when away on business there were times it could have been useful. So I believe that all hotels should have high speed internet available to guests. A fee keeps game players down to a minimum. The Hotels shou8ld also have made arrangements with the mobile airtime suppliers that there is a good signal available for those who use  mobile connections to Laptops etc .I would like all hotels to be able to offer free airline pre check in on line and pre printed boarding passes. Although beware some American Airlines are not up to speed on this for European departures.

Plenty of parking for late arrivals.

Car parking should reflect the number of rooms a hotel has or the availability to pre book. There is nothing worse than arriving at a new hotel to not be able to get parked or if so in a poorly lighted area away from the hotel entrance. Many a time I was called on the mobile to escort a female colleague in such a situation. Maybe this should also be in the safety discussion.

Quick seamless accurate  check in and check out

For me there is nothing worse than after travelling to have a receptionist either working at a very slow pace or getting things wrong, I always start by wishing the staff a good day or such and expect then to be so recognised. Then I usually say “Hi I am Ronald Chadwick you are expecting today.” And then present my Priority club card. Over 90% of the time a seamless check in occurs but boy if you get a bad one then it can be really bad. I also keep in my travel file copies of my reservations and any Email exchanges regarding the stay. When working and arriving late you do not need complications so as much back up to our position the better. Being a leisure traveller now and usually arriving at a civilised hour complications can be taken in a more leisurely manner as time is on our side.

As far as check out is concerned I use the on TV facility to check the room  account before going to reception  or the pre delivered account and Mark clearly the  areas for concern.

A lounge for informal meetings

There are many occasions were it is useful to be able to sit down over a tea or coffee to discuss the days agenda or review the day with a colleague or two. Always bear in mind that others may be listening to you conversation or looking at your papers or lap top. It is therefore useful to have a reasonable lounge area with adequate service and space with areas that may seem a little more private. Always be aware that for confidential discussions a private room can be made available at a reasonable charge, often by the hour.

Restaurants.

If the hotel is a business Hotel it is useful that they are aware of the hours that their local businesses keep. For example if a business starts at 7.30 AM then their guests would like to be able to leave the hotel by 7.15am having been able to breakfast at 6.30Am.