Tag Archives: IHG

InterContinental Hotels Group has partnered with SAMHI to rebrand approximately 2000 rooms (operating and under construction) within its India hotel portfolio, to Holiday Inn Express® hotels. The recently signed portfolio comprises 14 hotels, including 10 open hotels across key cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The additional four hotels are under construction. The signing sees IHG grow its pipeline by 41 hotels, positioning IHG as one of the largest players in India’s growing midscale hotel market. All hotels in the portfolio will be closed while they are being refurbished and upgraded with the latest design directives, to ensure the portfolio is fully representative of the Holiday Inn Express brand globally. The hotels will feature the next-generation design, several additional public areas and feature brand hallmarks to enhance guest service delivery. Commenting on the announcement, Sudeep Jain, Vice President, Development, South West Asia, IHG said: “It is with great pride and excitement that we are announcing our partnership with SAMHI for conversion of their existing mid-market hotel portfolio in India to Holiday Inn Express. This is a significant move towards establishing IHG as a leading player in the midscale hotel segment in India, while we continue to build on our upscale and luxury offering in the country with InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts.” Jain added: “With this signing, we now have close to 60 hotels open and in the pipeline, across the Holiday Inn Brand Family. SAMHI is keen to accelerate Holiday Inn Express’ highly efficient operating model and engage the brand’s growing familiarity in the country. Holiday Inn Express is the rest and go hotel brand that delivers a …

InterContinental Hotels Group has announced the launch of National Sales Office (NSO) in South West Asia (SWA) offering a central point of contact for IHG’s growing number of hotels in the region. The NSO is headquartered in Gurgaon and has team members located in key cities, including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. The NSO team consisting of 28 associates will support hotel-based sales teams in SWA and corporate sales teams around the world, in growing business, loyalty and customer satisfaction in the market. IHG has doubled its scale in the SWA region (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh) in the last four years, to 30 hotels across 14 cities, and is set to double the number of properties in three to five years as it opens 39 hotels in its development pipeline – increasing presence to 23 cities*. The NSO will represent 30 IHG hotels across SWA including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express to cater to the corporate demand for transient travel and MICE, as well as demand from international government bodies and institutions. Speaking on the launch Shantha de Silva, Head of South West Asia, IHG, said “Following a successful pilot with positive feedback from owners and key account representatives, we have opened the NSO to provide clients with a central point of contact through which to book IHG hotels and raise brand awareness in this fast-growing market.”

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) opened the doors to the first Kimpton outside of the Americas, with the Kimpton De Witt in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Sudeep Jain, Vice President-Development, South West Asia, IHG, says, “The concept of lifestyle hotels is about stimulating a diverse, innovative environment enhanced by a sense of belonging and style. It is encouraging to see the signature Kimpton experience being introduced to Europe. Lifestyle hotels have been trending for over 20 years, and now is the right time to accelerate our growth in India through the lifestyle segment.” Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants was acquired by IHG in 2015. IHG announced the further expansion of the brand across Europe with its second Kimpton hotel set to open in Paris in 2020. There are currently over 60 Kimpton hotels and more than 70 Kimpton restaurants, bars and lounges in 33 cities across Europe and the Americas. The hotel, which is in the heart of Amsterdam’s vibrant city centre and near the city’s Centraal Station, marks a milestone for IHG as it brings the Kimpton brand to Europe for the first time. This is IHG’s 20th hotel in The Netherlands and is an addition to the 675 IHG hotels across Europe. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants introduced the boutique hotel concept to the United States when it opened in San Fransisco in 1981. “Europe was the original inspiration behind Bill Kimpton founding the brand and now we’re bringing the brand home again. Opening in Amsterdam, gives us the perfect opportunity to indulge in the playful, creative and innovative approach to luxury that the city inspires in Kimpton’s unique and special way,” comments Angela Brav, IHG’s CEO, Europe.  “Amsterdam as a city …

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is getting ready to become the first hotel company to develop and launch a next-generation Guest Reservation System (GRS) that will revolutionise the technological foundations of the global hospitality industry. This is in partnership with Amadeus and it had started work on this early 2015. Amadeus will use a new cloud-based community model, a first in the hotel sector, and similar to the model it developed for the global airline industry. Speaking about this major development is Sudeep Jain, ‎Vice President, Development, South West Asia, IHG. He says, “The biggest change we have seen in the industry is the advent of digitisation. Applications on mobile phones that allow hotels to reach consumers directly is going to drive the change forward. We as a company have invested heavily in the digital space in partnership with Amadeus. We will get a cloud-based Guest Reservation System (GRS) which can customise and personalise the experience of our guests in terms of booking, choosing and deciding how to stay. It is being tested now and will be launched globally next year. These developments will help us automatically drive relationships with our customers.”

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 …

InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) has promoted Greesh Bindra to the post of Regional General Manager (RGM) of North & West India hotels in South West Asia. With an extensive experience of over 33 years across various brands, Bindra has been with IHG for almost 15 years. He has completed his General Managers Program with Cornell University in 2006 and has also won many awards including the Best General Manager at India Travel Awards in 2015. As the Regional General Manager, Bindra will further contribute to IHG’s growth in the northern Indian markets. Being based in Crowne Plaza Greater Noida, he will oversee the performance of the company’s 13 hotels within the region. Aside from his professional background, he is a dedicated sportsperson who spends his free time playing golf and other sports activities.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a global partnership with Alipay, China’s third-party online payment solutions company, making IHG the first global hotel company to give Chinese guests the ability to pay via Alipay through all of IHG’s online and mobile channels, as well as across its full estate of hotels globally. The global rollout of Alipay will begin in 2017. The new partnership, which has been agreed with Alipay’s parent company Ant Financial, will initially apply to IHG’s existing estate of more than 270 hotels in Greater China, as well as a number of hotels around the world that participate in IHG’s China Ready Programme, which offers a range of tailored services to Chinese travellers.