Priority Club(R) Rewards, the
customer loyalty program of InterContinental Hotels Group, today announced
it has enrolled more than 21 million members to become the world’s largest
hotel loyalty program, surpassing Marriott Rewards in total number of
members. InterContinental Hotels Group includes InterContinental Hotels &
Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn hotels, Holiday Inn
Express hotels, Staybridge Suites hotels, and Candlewood Suites. Launched
in 1983, Priority Club Rewards was the first hotel loyalty program and
prides itself on its user-friendly attributes. “We designed Priority Club Rewards to be the industry’s easiest and most
valuable program to use,” said Steve Sickel, senior vice president,
loyalty marketing, InterContinental Hotels Group. “We’re the
fastest-growing hotel loyalty program in the industry because we offer the
benefits that are most important to frequent travelers, and we have a wide
group of properties for guests to choose from.”

According to Sickel, the success and growth of the program can be
attributed to its distinctive offerings, detailed at
http://www.priorityclub.com/ , including:

* No point expiration * No blackout dates on reward nights * Fastest way
to elite status * Ability to transfer points to any other member * Largest
rewards catalog

In addition to continually adding innovative partners and benefits to the
program, members are regularly offered incentives like this summer’s
double points campaign at all InterContinental Hotels Group hotels in
which guests receive double points through Aug. 31 (see
http://www.priorityclub.com/double for details).

“Guest preference for Priority Club Rewards has really grown in recent
years. We’ve actually doubled the number of members since 2001,” Sickel
said. “And our program’s popularity is driven by continually improving the
program with benefits and promotions that our members truly want.”

With 21 million members, Priority Club Rewards now has more members than
the population of Australia. To put this figure into even more
perspective, consider the following:

* Priority Club Rewards’ membership base is now larger than the entire
population of any city in the United States, and also any state in the
country except Texas and California. The program’s roster now outnumbers
the population of many entire countries, including Australia (20 million),
Syria (18 million) the Netherlands (17 million) and Greece (11 million). *
In the last four years alone, Priority Club Rewards members have recorded
more than 115 million nights away from home in IHG hotels, the collective
equivalent of 315,068 years on the road. * During that same period,
members have redeemed 50 billion Priority Club Rewards points worth more
than $340 million in free hotel nights, brand name merchandise and retail
certificates. Members who choose to collect airline frequent flyer miles
through the program have also earned nearly three billion frequent flyer
miles since 2000, enough for roughly 120,000 round trip tickets on most
major airlines. * If every Priority Club Rewards member held hands and
stood next to each other, the line would stretch for 22,952 miles, equal
to more than eight times the distance between New York City and Los
Angeles (2,462 miles) or nearly all the way around the world. * If every
Priority Club Rewards member decided to attend just one NFL game this
coming season, they would fill up to capacity every stadium for the entire
season, plus the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

Besides having the most members, Priority Club Rewards also offers one of
the largest collections of program rewards in the industry, including free
nights at each of its hotel properties, frequent flyer miles for over 40
airlines worldwide and a vast selection of brand name merchandise and
retail certificates. Priority Club Rewards features the hotel industry’s
only personal shopper program, which allows program members to completely
customize their award selection.

Recently, the program placed first or second in 14 of 16 categories at the
2004 Freddie Awards, the most prestigious consumer-generated awards in the
travel industry.

Enrollment in Priority Club Rewards is free. Guests enroll online at
http://www.priorityclub.com/ , by calling 1-888-211-9874 or by enquiring
at the front desk of any InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza
Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites or
Candlewood Suites worldwide.

Priority Club Rewards is the world’s first and largest global hotel
loyalty program spanning more than 3,500 hotels in nearly 100 countries.
With more than 300,000 new travelers joining the program each month,
Priority Club Rewards has more members than any other loyalty program in
the hotel industry. Membership has doubled over the last three years, to
more than 21 million, with 20 percent of new members enrolling via the
Internet in FY 2003.
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