InterContinental Hotels Group signed 25 management contracts in the Asia Pacific region within…
InterContinental Hotels Group signed 25 management contracts in the Asia Pacific region within the first nine months of this year. The signings add 2 InterContinental Hotels, 7 Crowne Plaza Hotels, 13 Holiday Inn Hotels and 3 Express by Holiday Inn Hotels to the Group’s growing portfolio of quality hotels.
The addition of prime properties in sought-after locales of key travel destinations has reinforced InterContinental Hotels Group’s position at the industry forefront. The Group has firmly re-established itself in Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur with Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur. The country’s northern resort state of Penang will see the establishment of the luxurious InterContinental Resort Penang. And the Group’s Crowne Plaza brand is continuing to make significant inroads into the meetings market. Another key addition to the portfolio is Crowne Plaza Karon Beach Phuket, which is set to capture its share of the expanding meetings market in Thailand. The Group is also growing its presence in the key market of China with Express by Holiday Inn, which appeals to value-conscious domestic travellers and international visitors.
Said InterContinental Hotels Group’s Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Mr A. Patrick Imbardelli: “Our established brand portfolio continues to make us the partner of choice. Hotel owners and business partners appreciate our global scale, infrastructure and resources. They also recognise that we have the right brands, and the right people with the breadth and depth of experience and expertise necessary to drive revenue and profitability. Closing these deals demonstrates hotel owners’ confidence in our ability to deliver the best value to them. Our Asia Pacific brand portfolio is now stronger than ever before.’’
InterContinental Hotels Group’s success is built on a deep commitment to its partners and a proven, results-oriented approach to managing hotels. This winning combination has elevated the Group to its position as the world’s largest and most global hotel company, with over 3,500 hotels and 538,000 rooms in 100 countries. InterContinental Hotels Group’s extensive network provides very substantial resources in brand management, sales and marketing, technology and loyalty programmes that partners know they can rely on to achieve operational excellence and revenue maximisation for their hotels. Partners also enjoy the reach of the Group’s award-winning customer loyalty programme, Priority Club Rewards. By far the largest and fastest growing hotel loyalty programme in the world, Priority Club Rewards has 22 million members worldwide and adds 300,000 new members each month that return to stay at the hotels again and again. These key factors continue to drive the Group’s reputation among hotel owners as the hotel company that consistently exceeds expectations.
InterContinental Hotels Group currently has 150 hotels in Asia Pacific, catering to business and leisure travellers in key gateway and secondary cities. Covering all major market segments, the Group’s respected brands are each leaders in their segments. InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, synonymous with luxury, tasteful elegance and great service, was named Top Luxury Hotel Brand for Superior Customer Satisfaction in the United States in 2003. Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts is one of the fastest growing brands in the region. And Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts is the most widely recognised hotel brand in China, where the Group has over 40 hotels operating and a further 40 opening in the next two years. Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts has again recently been voted Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in Asia-Pacific and the Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in the World, by frequent travellers in the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Reader’s Poll. And with this year’s debut of Express by Holiday Inn in Asia Pacific, the Group has successfully completed yet another phase of its sustained expansion.
Added Mr Imbardelli, “While this year’s crop of new signings has added a significant number of hotels to our portfolio in North Asia, particularly in China where there is tremendous growth potential, we have concurrently achieved an increase in distribution in South Asia, and Australia and New Zealand as well. We remain fully committed to our key markets and will continue to leverage our leadership position in all these territories by building on the great relationships we have developed. We are well on our way to achieving our goal of a 50 percent increase in our portfolio in the short term.”
The following are the 25 hotels and their respective opening dates:
- InterContinental Moon Valley Beijing (2007)
- InterContinental Resort Penang (Q3 2005)
- Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley Resort (Late 2005)
- Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur (End 2004)
- Crowne Plaza Longgang Shenzhen (Early 2005)
- Crowne Plaza Norwest Sydney (Feb 2004)
- Crowne Plaza Karon Beach Phuket (End 2004)
- Crowne Plaza Science City Guangzhou (End 2005)
- Crowne Plaza Tianjin (2005)
- Holiday Inn Tianjin (Dec 2004)
- Holiday Inn Bekasi (2006)
- Holiday Inn Bogor (End 2005)
- Holiday Inn City Centre Christchurch (End 2004)
- Holiday Inn Changshu (2006)
- Holiday Inn Erdos (End 2004)
- Holiday Inn Jiangmen (End 2004)
- Holiday Inn Linyi Shandong (Oct 2004)
- Holiday Inn North Chongqing (2006)
- Holiday Inn Queenstown (Mid 2005)
- Holiday Inn Resort Sanya Bay (Aug 2004)
- Holiday Inn Seongbuk-Gu (Apr 2004)
- Holiday Inn Shipu Guangzhou (Q2 2005)
- Express by Holiday Inn Bell Tower Xi’an (2006)
- Express by Holiday Inn Hong Kong (Jan 2005)
- Express by Holiday Inn Zhengzhou (2005)
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
