ATLANTA, Priority Club® 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 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.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of the United Kingdom [(LON: IHG) (NYSE: IHG - News; ADRs)] is the world's most global hotel company and the largest by number of rooms. InterContinental Hotels Group owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, more than 3,500 hotels and 535,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world (http://www.ichotelsgroup.com ). InterContinental Hotels Group owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn (R) Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®, and also has a controlling interest in Britvic, the second largest soft drinks manufacturer in the UK.

InterContinental Hotels Group offers information and reservations capability on the Internet -http://www.intercontinental.com for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, http://www.crowneplaza.com for Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, http://www.holiday-inn.com for Holiday Inn hotels, http://www.hiexpress.com for Holiday Inn Express hotels, http://www.staybridge.com for Staybridge Suites hotels, and http://www.candlewoodsuites.com for Candlewood Suites, and for the Group's rewards program, http://www.priorityclub.com.

Carolyn Hergert
+1-770-604-8248
IHG