Editorial Style Guide

Version 7
April 2021
Welcome to the
Editorial Style Guide
This quick-reference pdf will assist you when
writing and editing copy at IHG® Hotels &
Resorts.
Created to help maintain consistency
across all IHG’s communications, it’s a
comprehensive guide to terminology,
commonly used phrases, brand trademarks, If you need support with anything that
Our communications products include:
punctuation and grammar. isn’t covered in this guide, please follow
• IHG Annual Report the guidance set out in the
• Responsible Business Report Associated Press Stylebook
• S
 cripts, press releases, internal
announcements and publications. In addition, you can share any
suggested edits or additions with us
via globalcomms@ihg.com
 Honest Inclusive
Keep it simple. Keep it transparent. Ground everything with clear, Invite people in, leave no one out. Use inclusive language and
easy-to-understand language. the correct terminology to ensure everyone feels respected,

Our tone of voice

represented and welcomed.
Do
Do
• Use concise, short sentences where possible
• Always use the correct terminology in sensitive situations
• Choose straightforward, everyday language
(e.g. when talking about culture, religion, or sexuality)
Our tone of voice reflects our personality, • Be sincere with believable, truthful statements
• Speak directly to people with inclusive language, questions
shaping how we speak so that we can and inviting call to actions
Don’t
create a vivid and consistent masterbrand Don’t
• Use complicated language, corporate jargon or industry
persona. • Use phrases with a problematic past (e.g. ‘nitty gritty’)
acronyms
You can find out more about our tone of • Exaggerate with over-the-top claims to sell our experience • Be too localised, using idioms, puns or metaphors that
voice in our Brand Identity Guidelines aren’t universally understood by everyone, particularly
here (pages 116-117). those reading in a second language

Engaging Bold
Be warm, open and confident. Inspire curiosity and discovery. We have a strong perspective – don’t be afraid to share it
Layer with a touch of worldly wit, balanced with a pinch of
humility. But most importantly, sound human. Do
Do • Get to the point with confident headlines and focused stories
• Use personal pronouns to humanise IHG – ‘We’, ‘Our’, ‘Us’ • Share our expertise on the topics that matter
• Tell stories through a human lens with authentic moments of • Share our enthusiasm for creating True Hospitality for Good
detail Don’t
• Use witty wordplay and light playfulness to provoke a smile • Be too bold and overpower our hotel brands when in
Don’t their space
• Refer to ourselves using corporate language in guest-facing • Feel the need to be bold everywhere. Choose the moments
comms – ‘Chain’, ‘Masterbrand’, ‘The Franchise’ that matter
• Miss the human emotion by just focusing on the functional
benefit
• Play the clown — our humour is smart and subtle, not silly
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A B C D E F G H I J K
Abbreviations Brand bar Captions Compounds Dashes Email Footnotes Gender Headings IHG Job titles Kilograms,
and acronyms Kilojoules,
Brand Colleagues & IHG ConcertoTM Dates Example Hotels -ise Kilometres,
Adjectives collections Employees Kilowatts
Countries and Department Hotel Metrics
Ambition Brand Chain scales Cities
descriptions Diversity, Hyperlinks
Ampersands Colons and Cross equity &
(&) and plus Brand and semi-colons reference inclusion Hyphens
signs (+) programme
names Committees Currency Doubling
Apostrophes consonants
Bullets Company

Comparisons

L M N O P Q R S T U V W
Lists Masterbrand Names Our Values Percentages Quotes Regions Senior Leaders Time URLs Vs Web
terminology
Location Meetings and Net system size Owners Performance Registration Slashes Trademarks VAT
Committees growth descriptors marks When to use
Loyalty Spacing True Hospitality “which” or
Numbers Phrases and Service Skills “that”
terminology Spelling
Wifi
Plans
Worldwide
Publication
titles

X Y Z
Punctuation

Purpose

Xmas Year

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A-Z
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Abbreviations Abbreviations that are well-known and well-used • ADR (Average Daily Rate) • adr
• AMEA (Asia, Middle East and Africa) • amea
and acronyms generally do not need to be written in full.
• AMER (Americas) • amer
• EMEAA (Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa) • emeaa
• GC (Greater China) • gc
• IMEA (India, Middle East, Africa) • mlac
• NGO (non-governmental organisation)
• MLAC (Mexico, Latin America, Canada)
• SEAK (South East Asia, Korea) • p.p, pp
• ppts (Percentage points) • Revpar
• RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room)
• GOLS (Global Owner Lifecycle Solutions)

An abbreviation or acronym that readers may not know • The Executive Committee (EC) met earlier this week • The Executive Committee met earlier this week.

should be written out in full, with the abbreviation or • Return on investment (ROI)

‘defined term’ in brackets in the first instance, and then

used alone thereafter.

Always express the following common • e.g. • eg

• i.e. • ie
abbreviations as shown when written in narrative.
• vs • v, versus
• per annum • pa

Adjectives When talking about an event in the first instance, • We opened our first-ever hotel in Azerbaijan
• We opened our first-ever avid® hotel globally
‘first-ever’ can be used.

In any other instance, find an alternative to “ever”. • greatest yet • greatest ever
• biggest to date • biggest ever
• best so far • best ever
• worst in its history • worst ever

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Ambition Our ambition is to deliver industry-leading net rooms • To deliver industry-leading net rooms growth. • Our ambition is to double the pace of our
growth.
growth.

Our strategy is called ‘Next’ and should be written • Our Next strategy • Our next strategy

consistently in this way.

Our strategic priorites and behaviours should be • Priorities • Drivers

• Build loved and trusted brands • outstanding to do business with
written as shown.
• Customer centric in all we do • brands that cut through
• Create digital advantage • luxury halo
• Care for our people, communities and • loyalty you can’t buy
planet • Behaviours
• Behaviours • move fast
• Move fast • talk straight
• Solutions focused • think return
• Think return • build one team
• Build one team

Ampersands (&) Use ‘and’ instead of an ampersand (&) or • and • &, +

• Holiday Inn® and Holiday Inn Express® are part of • Holiday Inn® & Holiday Inn Express® are part
and plus signs (+) plus sign (+), unless they are part of an official title
the Holiday Inn® Brand Family. the Holiday Inn® Brand Family
or company name. • Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa • Kimpton Seafire Resort and Spa
• Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts
• Luxury & Lifestyle
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

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Apostrophes Where possible, avoid the use of possessive • While making it possible to meet the preferences of • While making it possible to deliver on guests’
our guests preferences
apostrophes following the letter “s”
• We are operating a new F&B service in restaurants at • IHG Hotels & Resorts’ restaurants are operating
IHG Hotels & Resorts a new F&B service

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Brand bar The brand bar is used as a sign-off endorsement

to drive awareness of our brand portfolio. It adds
strategic value, so it’s mostly used on external-facing
communications.
For more guidance on how to use the brand bar, please see
the IHG brand identity guidelines.

Brand collections When listing our brands, they should be presented Luxury & Lifestyle
• Six Senses® Hotels Resorts Spas
in the following four collections: Luxury & Lifestyle,
• Regent® Hotels & Resorts
Premium, Essentials and Suites. The ordering of • InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts
the brands within these collections should remain • Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants
consistent with the example shown here. • Hotel Indigo®
Premium
• HUALUXE® Hotels and Resorts
• Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts
• EVEN® Hotels
• voco™ hotels
Essentials
• Holiday Inn®
• Holiday Inn Express®
• avid® hotels
Suites
• Atwell Suites™
• Staybridge Suites®
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations®
• Candlewood Suites®

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Brand descriptions Always describe the brand as a noun. • We took the Holiday Inn® brand to Australia. • We took Holiday Inn to Australia.
• There are two Hotel Indigo® hotels in Canada. • There are two Hotel Indigos in Canada.
• There are 250 IHG® Academy programmes • There are 250 IHG Academies in the Americas.
running globally.

Brand and These are presented in full in the first instance, • Atwell Suites™
• avid® hotels
programme names with the registration or trademark and capitalised • Business Edge
as shown. • Candlewood Suites®
• Corporate Travel Portal
The two exceptions to this rule are Six Senses and • Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts
Holiday Inn. Each brand is referred to as either Six • EVEN® Hotels
• Expert Solution
Senses or Holiday Inn on both first mention and • Giving for Good month
throughout copy. • Holiday Inn®
• Holiday Inn® Brand Family
The extension ‘Hotels & Resorts’ or ‘Hotels & • Holiday Inn Club Vacations®
Restaurants’ can be dropped, so long as it is used in • Holiday Inn Express®
• Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts®
conjunction with a noun such as ‘brand’, ‘hotel’ or • Hotel Indigo®
‘property.’ • Hotel Ready
• HUALUXE® Hotels and Resorts
After the first mention of IHG Concerto™, IHG can be • IHG® Hotels & Resorts
dropped. • IHG®
• IHG® Academy
Guidance continues on the following page. • IHG® Academy partner programme
• IHG® Army Hotels
• IHG® App
• IHG® Boost!
• IHG® Clean Promise
• IHG Concerto™
• IHG® Connect

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Brand and Note: Registration marks are not needed when • IHG Green Engage® (EU and US only)
• IHG Green Engage™ (globally)
programme names referring to the IHG Owners Association. • IHG® Ignite
(continued) • IHG® Rewards
After the first mention of these brand names • IHG® Way of Clean
with their trademarks, there are instances when • InterContinental Alliance® Resorts
you won’t need to use the trademark again. See • InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts
• Journey to Tomorrow
Trademarks for full details. • Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants
For more guidance on how to use the company name, please see • Meet with Confidence Hybrid Solutions
Company name. • Rise
• Six Senses® Hotels Resorts & Spas
• Smart Solution
• Staybridge Suites®
• True Hospitality for Good
• Regent® Hotels & Resorts
• voco™ hotels

Bullets Include a full stop only if the bullet comprises • New brand features shared for the first time today: New brand features shared for the first time today:
• The avid® hotels logo illustrates the brand’s • The avid® hotels logo illustrates the brand’s
a full sentence. Bulleted lists end in a semi colon (;). confident and modern design. confident and modern design
Except the final bullet point, which ends in a full stop. • New brand features shared for the first time today: • New brand features shared for the first time today:
• logo; • Logo.
• renderings. • Renderings.
For further guidance, see lists

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Captions Image captions for hotels are to be written with • InterContinental® London Park Lane, UK • InterContinental® London Park Lane, London, UK
• InterContinental Dubai - Festival City, UAE • InterContinental Dubai - Festival City, Dubai, UAE
the full hotel name, city and country (if not part
of the hotel name).

Full stops are not applied to the end of captions. • IHG colleagues • IHG colleagues.
• IHG colleagues were visiting the hotel • IHG colleagues visit the hotel.

For guidance on writing hotel names and locations, see Location.

Chain scales Chain scales segments are grouped primarily • Luxury • Mainstream
• Upper upscale
according to average room rates.
• Upscale
• Upper midscale
• Midscale
• Economy
• Independent

Colleagues & Employees Use the term ‘colleagues’ when referring to all those • At IHG Hotels & Resorts we have around 350,000 • At IHG Hotels & Resorts we have around
colleagues working across more than 100 countries. 350,000 employees working across more than
who work for IHG and within our reservation offices 100 countries.
and hotels.

Only use the term ‘employees’ when referencing • This policy will affect IHG employees only. • This policy will affect IHG colleagues

those who are directly employed by IHG in

corporate offices, reservation centres and managed
hotels.

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Colons A colon ( : ) comes before an explanation, list, • We keep corporate colleagues connected in the
following ways: all-colleague calls and Q&A
description or definition. It aims to inform the sessions; our Coffee and Conversation series; and
reader that what follows the colon proves, explains, region-specific sessions.
• We have launched several initiatives and tools
defines, describes, or lists the elements of what to help look after the wellbeing of our colleagues,
was written before it. including:
• Recharge Days to ensure everyone can take an
uninterrupted break.
• Our Employee Assistance Programme to provide
access to free mental health resources.
• The WorkLife Summit, where colleagues can
share tips and resources.

Semi-colons The most common use of the semi-colon is to join • I went to the swimming pool; I was told it was • We brought our things to the swimming pool:
closed for cleaning. bathing suit, towels and floats.
two independent clauses without using a conjunction
like “and”. Semi-colons are followed by a lower-case
letter, unless that letter would ordinarily be capitalised.

Choose a semi-colon to join things of equal weight. • My wife wouldn’t like tea; I would prefer coffee.

Choose a colon to join things which are not of • There is only one place I like to stay: Holiday Inn

equal weight.

For guidance on how to write lists using colons and semi-colons, see Lists

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Committees For guidance on how to write committee names, see Meetings and
Committees.

Company name The company name is written as shown. • IHG® Hotels & Resorts • IHG® Hotels and Resorts
• IHG® • ihg
• InterContinental Hotels Group® • Intercontinental hotels group
• InterContinental Hotels Group PLC • Intercontinental hotels group plc

When referencing our organisation in legal and • InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) provides • IHG provides a financing update, including
a financing update, including a further waiver and a further waiver and relaxation of existing
financial documents, we will use the appropriate relaxation of existing banking covenants, alongside banking covenants, alongside an update on
legal entity, whether that is InterContinental Hotels an update on changes to System Fund income changes to System Fund income recognition.
recognition.
Group or some other entity. This form will mainly
be used by the Legal, Secretariat, Investor Relations
and Global Corporate Communications teams.

When referencing our organisation in relation to our • IHG® Hotels & Resorts announces 100% • IHG® announces 100% biodegradable amenities
biodegradable amenities at all of its properties, at all of its properties, starting in 2022. IHG
people and brands, we will use IHG Hotels & Resorts on starting in 2022. IHG is proud to be leading the is proud to be leading the effort for more
first reference (headline and first mention in copy). effort for more sustainable and environmentally sustainable and environmentally friendly
friendly operations in hospitality. operations in hospitality.
Additionally, the registered trademark symbol (®) must • IHG® Hotels & Resorts announces the signing • IHG announces the signing of 10 new Holiday
of 10 new Holiday Inn branded properties in Inn branded properties in North America. These
be used in the first reference, and where a document North America. These new hotels showcase IHG’s new hotels showcase IHG’s commitment to
has multiple sections on separate pages, the first commitment to growing one of its most iconic growing one of its most iconic brands.
reference in each section. brands.

‘IHG’ can be used on second and subsequent

references. Both internal and external communications
should follow this style.

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In quotes when attributing titles to our leaders, use • “The masterbrand refresh embodies our • “The masterbrand refresh embodies our
company’s values and purpose. Making connections, company’s values and purpose. Making
IHG Hotels & Resorts. bridging cultures, celebrating travel, and welcoming connections, bridging cultures, celebrating
people from all over the world with exceptional travel, and welcoming people from all over
service,” said Claire Bennett, Chief Customer Officer, the world with exceptional service,” said Claire
IHG Hotels & Resorts. Bennett, Chief Customer Officer, IHG

When referencing IHG as a brand that sits across • The entire IHG Hotels & Resorts family of hotels, • The entire IHG family of hotels,
whether part of our Luxury & Lifestyle collection or whether part of our Luxury & Lifestyle
our portfolio of hotel brands or when used as a our Essentials collection, prioritise compassion and collection or our Essentials collection, prioritise
collective term for all hotels under all brands, every consideration for our planet. compassion and consideration for our planet.

reference should be IHG Hotels & Resorts.

You may write pieces of communication that relate • Compassion and consideration for our planet is a
crucial part of what we stand for. That’s why all
to both the IHG Hotels & Resorts business and the the brands belonging to IHG Hotels & Resorts are
brand. The same rules as outlined above apply. making bulk, biodegradable amenities a brand
standard. IHG is determined to do its part to combat
environment-related adversities.

Refer to the company as a noun as shown. • Company • the company

• the Group • the group
Group is used when meaning the IHG company
• Parent Company • parent company
and its subsidiaries.
For guidance on when to apply trademarks, see Trademarks.

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Comparisons Compare to indicates similarity, compare with • Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? • Compared to the New York subway, the
• Compared with the New York subway, the London London Underground is expensive
indicates difference. Underground is expensive

Compounds Write the following compound words as complete • Cybersecurity • Cyber security
• groundbreaking • Ground breaking
words as shown.
• masterbrand • Master brand
• Multinational • Multi-national
• Rollout • Roll-out
• Wellbeing • Well-being
• Worklife • Work life

In copy written for a single regional audience, local style

preferences for prose can be applied.

Countries, regions and Do not use full stops or spaces in country and • US, UK • U.S. or U K
• Washington DC • Washington D.C.
cities city descriptors.

Where possible, please ensure you use the politically • Macau SAR
• Hong Kong SAR
correct names of countries.
• When referencing Taiwan, always do so as part of
Greater China

For further guidance, see Regions.

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IHG Concerto™ When referring to IHG Concerto™ , we describe the • IHG ConcertoTM, which brings together the core • ConcertoTM is our new Guest Reservation
System (GRS)
systems of our hotels into a seamless experience
system as a technology platform. This platform has for colleagues, while making it possible to deliver on
many different components, including our Guest the preferences of our guests even more effectively.
The platform features our industry-leading Guest
Reservation System (GRS). Reservation System (GRS) and other important
applications.
After the first mention of IHG Concerto™, IHG can be
dropped.

Cross reference When cross-referencing items, use lower case. See page 6. See Page 6.

Currency When writing currencies in full, use lowercase • France has fully transferred to the euro • France has fully transferred to the Euro
• sterling • Sterling
(with the exception of the country).
• The numbers are in USD • The numbers are in US dollars
• NOK • nok
When using acronyms, uppercase letters are applied.

Always quantify amounts in full. • $100 million • $100m

• $1.6 billion • $1.6bn
In the back sections of the Annual Report and other • $3,284 • $3284
• $nil
dedicated financial documents, tables and graphics,
• £nil
$m or $bn may be applied.

For guidance on using other numbers, see Numbers.

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Dashes The longer dash, with a space either side (en-dash) • We recommend digital record keeping and
wherever possible — use a password.
is used when inserting a phrase into a sentence.
• Please assign 2-3 people to each team.

The shorter dash, without spaces (em-dash) is used

when presenting a range of numbers.

Dates In copy written for multiple regions or a global • 1 January 2017 • 1st January 2017
• Monday 31 January 2017 • January 17
audience, write the date in the order of day, date
• 1 January • 2016/2017
(as a number), month in full, and then year. • January 2017
• 21-25 January
The date is not written as 1st, 5th, 30th, etc. • 2016/17

In copy written for a single regional audience, local style

preferences for dates can be applied.

Diversity, equity & On first mention, diversity, equity & inclusion is written • We will be improving diversity, equity & inclusion
across our hotels. This is because DE&I is important
inclusion out in full, in sentence case. After that, it’s referred to as
to us an organisation.
DE&I.

Doubling consonants When adding -ing and -ed to verbs, we sometimes • Focused • Focussed
• Benefited • Benefitted
double the consonant beforehand. Where possible,
• Targeted • Targetted
follow the UK spelling. For those that can be both
double and single, use a single consonant, as
shown in the example.

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Email This is written as shown. • email • e-mail

Email addresses are written entirely in lowercase. • globalcomms@ihg.com • GlobalComms@ihg.com

Example
You can use e.g when highlighting multiple • Adding non-cash benefit data (e.g. company car, • Adding non-cash benefit data (for example,
healthcare, etc.) from the 2017/18 tax year P11D company car, healthcare, etc.) from the 2017/18
examples in brackets following a statement. report. tax year P11D report.

“Like” indicates similarity, whereas “such as” is • I look after animals, such as cats and dogs

specific. When giving examples, use “such as”

wherever possible.

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Footnotes These always end with a full stop. • Figures correct as at 1 January. • Figures correct as at 1 January

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Gender Our use of language reflects our values, as well

as changes in society.

Avoid terms such as businessmen, housewives, • Chair • Chairman

• Firefighter • Fireman
male nurse, woman driver, fireman, postmen,
• Postal workers • Postmen
male concierge, etc. • Waiter • Male concierge
• Waitress

If you need to use an adjective, use ‘female’ • Female CEO • Woman CEO
• Female manager • Woman manager
and not ‘woman.’

Never say ‘his’ to refer to both men and women, • An employee should always make time to reflect • A colleague should always make time to reflect
on their performance. on his performance.
use ‘his or her’, or a different construction, such
as ‘their.‘

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Headings Headlines, page titles, subheads and similar • Announcing our latest opening in Greater China • Announcing Our Latest Opening In Greater China.
• A message from Patrick Cescau • A Message from Patrick Cescau
content follow sentence case. Therefore,
only capitalise the first letter of the sentence
and the first letter of any name(s).

Do not underline headings, use bold. • Headings • Headings

You can find full clarification on updated masterbrand guidelines here. For
specific design questions, email ihgbrand@ihg.com

Do not place full stops at the end of headlines, • A message from our CEO • A message from our CEO.

page titles or subheads.

Section titles that reference specific reports • Directors’ Report • Directors’ report
• Strategic Report • Strategic report
are written in title case.
• Group Financial Statements • Group Financial statements
• Parent Company Financial Statements • Parent Company financial statements
• Auditor’s Report • Auditor’s report

Hotels For guidance on the format of hotel names, see Location.

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Hotel Metrics The Hotel Metrics are written in title case as shown • Hotel Metrics • hotel metrics
• System Size • system size
When referring to “Colleague HeartBeat”, capitalise • Signings • signings
• Total Gross Revenue • total gross revenue
both “H” and “B”
• Margin • margin
• Rooms Revenue Market Share • rooms revenue market share
• Guest Love • guest love
• Colleague HeartBeat • colleague heart beat
• Loyalty Contribution • loyalty contribution
• Enterprise Contribution • enterprise contribution
• Responsible Business • responsible business

When writing about Hotel Metrics, use the • We are making good progress against our Hotel • We are making good progress against the Hotel
Metrics Metrics
possessive form where possible.

Hyperlinks Do not underline hyperlinks, use bold. • Click here • Click here

You can find full clarification on updated masterbrand guidelines here. For
specific design questions, email ihgbrand@ihg.com

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Hyphens Use a hyphen when two or more words written • Our high-quality hotel brand, InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts…
• We have long-term plans.
before a noun are an adjective for the noun.

Other phrases that use a hyphen. • best-in-class, business-related

• check-in, check-out, cost-efficient, cost-effective
• design-led
• e-learning, e-careers, energy-efficient
• forward-looking
• Group-funded
• half-year
• in-depth, in-house, income-generating, industry-leading, industry-owned, in-room
• long-term
• new-build
• one-third
• part-time, performance-related, post-April, post-consumer, post-employment,
• post-retirement, pre-approved, pre-acquisition, pre-tax, purpose-built
• rate-led, re-election, risk-free
• self-service, share-based, short-term
• tax-free, third-party, Tokyo-based, travel-related
• UK-based
• year-end (when used as an adjective, ‘year end’ when a noun), year-on-year.

Adverbs ending in ly are not hyphenated • Strategically placed

• Professionally trained
• Easily accessible

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IHG For guidance on how to write the company name, see Company name.

-ise Endings use -ise. Unless for Americas-specific • apologise • apologize

• realise • realize
communications.
• organise • organize

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Job titles When mentioning a job title for the first time on a • Chief Executive Officer
• Corporate Communications Manager
page, write it out in full.
• Director
• Executive Vice President
• General Manager
• People Manager
• Senior Vice President
• Training Co-ordinator

Subsequent mentions can abbreviated • Supported by our Chief Executive Officer. The CEO • Supported by our CEO. The CEO will be helping
will be helping to launch the programme. to launch the programme.
• Our Senior Vice President is pleased to announce t
he opening of a new Holiday Inn® . The SVP says it
will be our first in Greater China.
• Our Executive Vice President will be speaking at
the event. The EVP says he’ll be talking about our
new projects in EMEAA.

When writing about general role titles, these are in • senior executive • We will build a Project Team for this campaign.
• copywriter
sentence case.
• project team
For further guidance, see Senior Leaders • We will build a project team for this campaign.

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Kilograms, kilojoules, Abbreviate as shown. • kg • Kilograms

• kJ • Kilowatts
kilometres, kilowatts
• km
• kW

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Lists Use a colon ( : ) to introduce a list. • Our Holiday Inn® Brand Family comprises:
Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express® and
Use a comma between items in a list in narrative text. Holiday Inn Club Vacations®.

In a sub-list within a main list, separate each bullet • Our communications are split into:
• External; and
with a semi-colon and use ‘and’ or ‘or’ between the
• Internal.
penultimate and final list items, then use a full stop. • We have several internal communications channels:
• Merlin;
• the newsroom; and
• lightboxes.

For guidance on using bullet points, see Bullets.

For guidance on listing our brands, see Brand and programme names.

Location Hotel names are written in full, • Hotel Indigo® York

• Staybridge Suites® Times Square, New York City
as detailed on their own websites, with the country,
• Holiday Inn® Brighton, Seafront
registration mark and any hyphens included.

Loyalty Our loyalty programmes and associated phrases are • Club InterContinental®
• InterContinental® Ambassador
written as shown.
• Royal Ambassador members
• IHG® Rewards

Member Rate by IHG® Rewards is written in full. • Member Rate by IHG® Rewards
• The global rollout of Member Rate by IHG Rewards®
Thereafter it can be referred to as ‘Member Rate’ provides members with special benefits.
Member Rate is proving very successful.

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Masterbrand When referencing IHG Hotels & Resorts • Our masterbrand • Our Master brand

‘masterbrand’ , please state as one word. This

should be written in sentence case.

Meetings and These are written as shown. Specific meeting • Annual General Meeting (AGM) • Annual general meeting
• Board • board
Committees and committee names are written in title case.
• Senior Leaders Meeting • senior leaders meeting
• Audit Committee • Audit committee

Generic meeting and committee names are • management team • Management Team
• project team • Project Team
written in lower case except for any name(s).
• the committee • the group management
• the Group management

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Names Use the full name instead of initials. • Patrick Cescau • P. Cescau
• Patrick • Mr. Cescau
For executive biographies in corporate materials,
refer to the person using their first name after the
first mention.
For all other materials, continue to use the full name
or their title.

For guidance on listing our brands, see Brand and programme names.

Net system size growth Net system size growth should be written in • net system size growth • Net System Size Growth
• system • System
sentence case when used as a noun. Alternatives
• net system size • Net system size
such as “system”, “net system size”, “system size • system size growth • System size growth
growth” should be written in sentence case as well.

Numbers One to nine are written in full, then 10, 11, 12, 13, etc. • It is one of three planned openings for the brand.
• £7.50 • seven pounds
Exceptions to this are when numbers are used in
• 9.2% • nine%
page numbers, currency or percentages. • See page 2

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Write positions as shown. • First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, • 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.
eighth, ninth

Write in full when numbers are 10 or greater. • 10th, 11th, 12th • Tenth, eleventh, twelth

Use commas in numbers greater than 999. • 5,174 • 5174

• 10,000 • 100000

Common number phrases are written • 12-month

• 20-storey
as shown.
• 20-year
• 24-hour
• A 128-room hotel
When quoting numbers, use ‘and’ when the two • 20 and 21 • 20 to 21
• Eight and nine
numbers are consecutive, and use ‘to’ when
• 20 to 24
they aren’t.
• 8 to 15

The preposition ‘over’ refers to movement and • More than 100 people attended. • Over 100 people attended.
• Attendance was in excess of 500 people.
position, so is not to be used when stating numbers.
Instead, use one of the following terms: more than,
in excess of, exceeds, exceeded.

Phone numbers should be written as follows: area +44 (0)20 7999 000 • 020-7999 0000
• (020) 7999 0000
code, dialling code in parentheses and then the
• 020 7999 0000
phone number. • +44(0) 2- 7999 0000

For guidance on using currency, see Currency.

For guidance on percentages, see Percentages.

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Our values ‘Our values’ have replaced ‘Winning Ways’ •O

 ur values represent what we do and what we
believe are important to us as a business. Our values
provide a strong sense of shared purpose and are
critical to driving our business forward:
• Do the right thing
• Show we care
• Aim higher
• Celebrate difference
• Work better together

Owners Generally, when referring to owners, we are referring • Owners are very important to us.
• We value our owners greatly.
to our hotel owners. Unless at the start of a sentence
• Many owners are members of the IHG • Many Owners attended the conference.
or when writing the IHG Owners Association, ‘owners’ Owners Association.
should appear with a lowercase ‘o’.

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Percentages When a numeral is used in a pure financial statement • 10%, 25.6%, 19.95%, etc. • RevPAR increased last year by six %.
• RevPAR increased last year by 5.8%. • RevPAR increased last year by 5.8 percent.
or as a performance figure, use the percent sign (%).
• IHG grew its system size by 2.5% over the year.

When we provide statistics, we’re usually trying to • Nine out of 10 people • 90% of people

emphasise the importance of an issue. To maximise

the impact of a statistic, convey a percentage in
terms of scale.

Performance Always written in title case when referring to the • Mixed • mixed
• Strong • strong
descriptors performance descriptors as nouns. When referring
• Exceptional • exceptional
to them as adjectives, use sentence case.

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Phrases and terminology Phrases and terminology that are commonly

used across IHG are written as shown in these
categorised lists:

Delivery • Aim higher • Aim Higher

• Best Price Guarantee
• Do the right thing
• Merlin • Do The Right Thing
• Show we care • merlin
• Winning Metrics • Show We Care
• Work better together
• Work Better Together

IHG events and products • Colleague HeartBeat • Celebrate Service Week

• Heart of House • Colleague Heartbeat
• IHG Friends and Family rate
• masterbrand
• Our people portal
• True Hospitality stories
• Virtual Learning Summit

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Finance • Auditor and Auditor’s • Auditors and Auditors

• Bi-annual
• Earnings per share (EPS)
• Ernst & Young LLP Statutory Auditor (EY)
• Ex-dividend
• Executive remuneration
• Fee based, fee revenue, full year
• IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) • IFRS3
• IFRS 3
• Leased
• Managed lease
• Ordinary shares/resolutions
• Owned
• Per annum • pa
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR)
• Shareholders
• System size
• Total Shareholder Return (TSR)
• Treasury shares
• UK portfolio / collection of high-quality properties • Principal deal / Covivio
• Winning Model
• £nil

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Hotels • check-in
• Clean Champions
• culture of clean
• Franchised, managed, owned, leased and managed
lease (if listing, keep in this order).
• Global Cleanliness Board
• GroupSync Engage
• guests
• high-end
• Hotel Cleanliness Ratings
• Hotel Solutions
• in-room
• midscale
• Owners Association
• upper midscale
• upper upscale
• upscale
• virtual quality audit

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People • award-winning
• colleagues
• co-operate
• co-ordinate
• DE&I
• DE&I board
• Employees
• Guest Love scores
• Guest Satisfaction Index
• People Tools
• Room to belong
• Room to grow
• Room to make a difference
• Senior Leader
• True Hospitality
• True Hospitality for Good
• Voice of the employee
• Winning Ways

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Responsible Business • energy-efficient

• Giving for Good
• Giving for Good awards
• Giving for Good month
• Green Solutions
• Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI)
• Hotel Water Measurement Initiative (HWMI)
• IHG® Academy
• IHG® Academy partner programme
• IHG® Academy programmes
• IHG Green Engage™ (globally)
• IHG Green Engage™ programme
• IHG Green Engage™ system
• IHG Green Engage™ tool
• Non-governmental organisation (NGO)
• responsible business
• Responsible Business Report
• True Hospitality for Good

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Plans When referring to a plan or a scheme, • More information about the plan is available • More information about the Plan is available
on Merlin. on Merlin.
use lowercase letters.

Publication titles When writing for and about published materials, • IHG Annual Report • The annual report
• IHG Annual Report and Form 20-F
media, magazine titles and awards, use the exact
• Inside IHG
publication name in full. • Responsible Business Report • The responsible business report
• The Sun, Style Traveller, etc. • The report
• World Travel Awards
• Trip Advisor – Reader’s Choice Hotel Award

Punctuation For guidance on using colons, see Colons.

For guidance on using dashes, see Dashes.
For guidance on using hyphens, see Hyphens.
For guidance on using slashes, see Slashes.
For guidance on spacing, see Spacing.

Purpose Our purpose is to provide True Hospitality for Good • Our purpose is to provide True Hospitality for Good • Our purpose is to provide True Hospitality for
good

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Quotes Double quotation marks are used for displaying • Keith Barr, Chief Executive of IHG Hotels & Resorts,
said: “We have had a good first half.”
a direct quote or speech. • Today we are a well-respected, successful
organisation, famous for ‘cracking the code’
Single quotation marks can be used for an expression, and leading the battle for direct bookings.
a publication title or a name.

Use an ellipsis (…) to indicate that material has been • Keith Barr, Chief Executive of IHG Hotels & Resorts,
said: “We have had a good first half ...
removed from a quote. we remain confident in the outlook for the year.”

Use square brackets [ ] when you insert words • “Giving for Good month [which takes place
in September] is a chance for IHG to make a
into a direct quotation. difference to communities across the globe.”

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Regions The IHG regions are written as shown. • AMER, Americas or the Americas
• EMEAA or Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa
• Greater China

Other regions we may refer to are written as shown. • Asia Pacific (APAC)
• Continental Europe
• EU
• Middle East, Middle-Eastern
• Mainland China
• Russia (CIS)
• South East Asia
• South Korea

Registration marks For guidance on using registration marks, see Trademarks and Brand and programme names.

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Senior Leaders Always written in title case. • Senior Leaders • Senior leaders

When referring to the Senior Leaders group, • Senior Leaders group • Senior Leaders Group

group is always in lower case.

Slashes Avoid using the slash (/). Replace it with words • Guests can stay connected at all times with high- • Guests can stay connected at all times with high-
speed internet access in the rooms and throughout speed internet access in the rooms/building, and
or commas as appropriate. the building, and host meetings or conferences in host meetings/conferences in any of the rooms
any of the rooms in the hotel. in the hotel.

Spacing Sentences are separated by a single space,

not two spaces.

Spelling In communications that are intended for • Colour • Color

• Finalise • Finalize
a global audience, use UK English language,
• License • Licence
spelling and grammar. • Judgment • Judgement
• Programme • Program

Exceptions apply when the communications

are written for a dedicated region or country.
For example, in the Americas region, American
spelling is accepted.

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Time In copy written for multiple regions or a global • 11:00 • 11AM

• 16:00 • 4pm
audience, the 24-hour clock is used (with a colon).

Where required, time zones should be applied after • 10:00 GMT • 10:00 UK time
• 14:00 EST • 14:00 E.S.T
the given time, using uppercase and no spaces.

In copy written for a single regional audience,

local preferences for time can be applied.

Trademarks The registration mark ( ® ) is a notice of registered • InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts
• Atwell SuitesTM
ownership and advises the reader that the name
is registered.
The trademark symbol ( TM ) provides notice of a
claim of common-law rights, informing readers that
the name, term, slogan or logo is being claimed as
a trademark.

Trademarked or registered names are not used • The Crowne Plaza® hotel’s meeting facilities • The Crowne Plaza®’s meeting facilities
• The Holiday Inn® hotel’s lobby • The Holiday Inn®’s lobby
in the possessive form. Therefore, the marks are
• We stayed in a Holiday Inn® hotel. • We stayed in a Holiday Inn®.
always followed by a noun, such as ‘hotel’, ‘property’, • The Holiday Inn Express® brand is highly successful. • Holiday Inn Express® is highly successful.
‘programme’ or ‘brand’. • There is one Staybridge Suites® property in • There is one Staybridge Suites® in Stratford City.
Stratford City.

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Trademarks and registration marks are superscripted,

apart from on some digital platforms where this is
not possible, e.g. Merlin.

Don’t use the trademark symbol or registration mark • InterContinental® London Park Lane
• InterContinental® Dubai - Festival City, UAE
on every occasion a brand or product name or
• IHG® Academy
phrase is mentioned. • IHG® Academy partner programme
• IHG Green Engage® system (EU and US only)
The relevant mark must be used in the first mention • IHG Green Engage™ system (globally)
of a trademarked or registered name in a piece of • IHG® App
writing. This includes headlines and titles. • IHG Concerto™
• IHG® Connect
In online copy, the relevant mark is to be used the
first time the brand name is mentioned, then on
further prominent use only, such as a subheading,
caption or breakout box.

Always use the relevant mark when writing a hotel

or programme name in full.
For a list of how to correctly present each of our trademarked or registered brands, see Brand and programmes.

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URLs When including a URL within copy, ‘www.’ is not used, • For more information, visit ihgplc.com • For more information, visit www.ihgplc.com

unless within a financial document..

If the URL is included in a responsive environment

(PDF, editable document, web page, etc), a hyperlink
should be applied to the URL.

A full stop should not be placed at the end of the • Please visit ihgplc.com • Please visit ihgplc.com.

URL, even if it falls at the end of a sentence.

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Vs Use ‘vs’ to represent ‘versus’. • vs •v

VAT The abbreviation for Value Added Tax (VAT) can be

used at all times and need not be spelled out in the
first instance.

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Web terminology Common associated words are written as shown. • web

• webpage
• website
• world wide web

When to use ‘That’ defines, whereas ‘which’ gives • This is the hotel that is owned by IHG.
• This hotel, which is owned by IHG, is breaking
‘which’ or ‘that’ extra information. records for loyal guests.
• The Holiday Inn, which I stay in every time I visit
my family, is the hotel that I prefer.

Wifi Always write the term as shown. Only uppercase • wifi • WiFi
• Wifi • Wi-Fi
the ‘w’ if it falls at the start of a sentence.

Worldwide We prefer to use ‘global’ or ‘globally’. • IHG® Hotels & Resorts is a global company • IHG® Hotels & Resorts is a global company with
hotels worldwide.

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Xmas When referring to Christmas, use the full term. • Christmas • Xmas

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Year There is no need to use a descriptor when referring • In 2012 • In the year 2012

to a specific year.

For a span of years, use a dash. • 2011-12 • 2011/12

When saying the year in speech or video, • twenty-twelve • two thousand and twelve

it is spoken as shown.

When comparing the current year to the • 2017; 2016

previous year, use a semi-colon.

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