Intercontinental Hotels: Setting standards to create a brand

Jan Smits, the Asia, Middle East and Africa chief executive of International Hotels Group (IHG), visited one of the group's hotels in India to see how young graduates are trained within the company.

He observed workers prepare rooms for bedtime - the so-called turndown service - and realised that the process was not standardised.

He believes there is room for improvement.

"We just need to get better at our standardisation," he says. "We're very close, but it can't be very close, it needs to be the same every time if you want to create a great brand."