IHG’s 202-room Holiday Inn Chennai opens doors

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced the opening of the Holiday Inn Chennai OMR IT Expressway. The 202-room hotel marks the fifth IHG Hotel in Chennai and the first Holiday Inn in the city. Strategically located in Chennai’s IT hub (also known as Old Mahabalipuram Road, OMR), and only 20 minutes from Chennai International Airport, the hotel aims to cater to corporate and MICE travellers as well as leisure travellers exploring Chennai. The hotel has 5,000 sq ft of flexible meeting space and a wide range of food and beverage outlets.
The company also expressed that it is on track to having 150 hotels open or in our pipeline within the next 10-15 years. This growth will largely be driven by the Holiday Inn brand family with a distinct focus on Crowne Plaza and InterContinental Hotels and Resorts in key gateway cities. Most recently, IHG has signed three Holiday Inn Express hotels in India with existing owners. This includes the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in the Delhi & NCR area, Holiday Inn Express and Suites Gurgaon Sector 90 with Crowne PropBuild Pvt. Ltd. who currently own Crowne Plaza Rohini as well as Holiday Inn Express Kolkata Airport with DS group who currently own Crowne Plaza Jaipur Tonk Road with IHG. All the three Holiday Inn Express hotels are set to open in the next 2 to 3 years.
Sudeep Jain, Vice President, Development, South West Asia, IHG said: “We are delighted to sign three new properties that expand our Holiday Inn brand family portfolio in India. Moreover, signing these properties with existing owners is indicative of IHG’s strength in building strategic partnerships and the growing recognition of the Holiday Inn Express brand in India. All three properties will draw synergies from IHG hotels located nearby and will reinforce our position in South West Asia. While IHG already has a strong and growing presence in India, we are looking at developing our portfolio further in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.”
Alan Watts, Chief Operating Officer, Asia Middle-East Africa, IHG added, “There are 36 hotels (6,927 rooms) in our current pipeline in India – totalling growth of more than 125% over the next three to five years. With this momentum, we continue to collaborate with existing and new strategic partners to bring the rights brands to the right locations in India.”