IHG Puts a Content Platform Behind Its AI Visibility Bet
InterContinental Hotels Group will introduce a platform later this year to change how it structures and manages hotel content. Heather Balsley, the group's Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, described the investment in an interview published by Skift on 18 September 2026, ahead of her session at Skift Global Forum on 22-24 September 2026 in New York.
She tied the decision to how travellers ask for recommendations. Balsley said AI tools can only be as helpful as the content they draw from, and that content has become increasingly important. Travellers now put more nuanced questions to AI tools about where to stay, based on their needs, preferences and trip purpose.
What the Platform Does
Balsley said hotel content has to move past basic descriptions and amenities. She said content needs to be rich, accurate and relevant so AI can understand what makes a property unique and connect it with the right guest.
She gave the platform three jobs. The first is to put the right hotel information on the right channels at the right time. The second is to strengthen the digital signals that help IHG hotels be surfaced and recommended by AI tools. The third is to give IHG more flexibility in how content is created, delivered and personalised.
Balsley said the platform arrives later this year. Skift's report records no date inside that window, no supplier and no stated measure for whether AI tools recommend IHG hotels more often.
The Test She Applies to a Commercial Decision
Asked for the rule she applies when the ground keeps moving, Balsley gave a two-part test. She said a move has to create a better experience for guests and deliver value for owners. She said technology will keep evolving while those fundamentals hold.
She then named the conditions that pass. A move is worth pursuing if it helps travellers make more confident decisions, reduces friction, strengthens loyalty or improves hotel performance. She said other moves are probably a distraction.
That test carries a direct consequence for owners. Under Balsley's rule, a content investment has to show up in hotel performance as well as in the guest's experience of it. Skift's framing marks where the rule gets hard. The test holds when guest experience and owner economics point the same way, and Balsley's answer does not say which side wins when they pull apart.
The Discovery Shift She Compares It To
Balsley placed AI inside a sequence of discovery changes the hotel industry has absorbed. She named the rise of online travel agencies, mobile booking and super apps in markets such as China. She said those shifts changed how travellers discovered and engaged with brands.
Her stated position is that they did not reduce the weight of strong brands or direct customer relationships. She said new discovery channels do not replace direct relationships with travellers, and that IHG stays present wherever travellers make their decisions. She called that presence a critical part of staying relevant.
Skift's framing raises the sharper version of the question. An AI assistant can answer the guest and close the booking while the hotel never surfaces.
The Loyalty Stakes
Balsley put the long-term defence in the loyalty programme. She pointed to personalisation and recognition through IHG's loyalty offering, together with consistently good stays, as the things that drive long-term trust. She said AI may transform how guests find IHG, and that brands which deliver meaningful experiences and strong relationships keep earning that business.
Skift reads loyalty as the asset IHG expects to outlast any single discovery channel. That turns the open question into a loyalty-design question: what the programme has to become when a guest never opens the brand's own front door.
Where Skift Global Forum Fits
Balsley speaks at the forum alongside Booking Holdings' Glenn Fogel, Expedia Group's Ariane Gorin and other industry chief executives. The forum runs 22-24 September 2026 in New York, days after the interview was published.
Skift has published a companion preview on Wyndham. In that piece, chief executive Geoff Ballotti describes feeding live data into ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and using AI to monitor what the group supplies to those models. Both previews describe hotel groups moving on the same problem in the same week.
What the Interview Leaves Open
The interview records the strategy, the sequencing and the reasoning. It records no platform name, no launch date inside this year, no supplier and no measure for whether AI tools recommend IHG hotels more often. Skift's framing asks whether optimising for the models is a durable advantage or work the platforms can reset at any time.
Balsley's answer rests on the guest relationship. She said AI may transform how guests find IHG, and that brands which consistently deliver meaningful experiences and strong relationships keep earning that business in the long run.