Holiday Inn's parent company, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has made a digital advertising push lately around its hospitality effort for Chinese guests traveling overseas.
IHG did extensive consumer research to find out what amenities were essential versus nice-to-have. Slippers were important, and so were Chinese TV channels. Chinese travelers want bottled water, because they aren't accustomed to drinking tap water, and they want a kettle.
The research showed that over a third of Chinese guests will check out of a room that doesn't have a kettle, "because they can't make tea or ramen noodles, which is their comfort food."
China has more overseas travelers than any other market: 135 million in 2016, up 6% from the year before. And China's tourists spent USD 261 million on international trips, more than double what Americans spent, according to U.N. tourism statistics.
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