IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) is enjoying robust growth in India with 14 new-look Holiday Inn hotels in various stages of development across the country. Accounting for more than 3,700 rooms, these hotels are scheduled to open over the next three years in 11 cities nationwide.
Three of the hotels will be located in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, with the remaining hotels in cities such as Delhi and Dehradun in the north, Cochin and Coimbatore in the south, Kolkata in the east, Mumbai and Pune in the west, and Nagpur in central India. All 14 hotels will be new builds and will feature contemporary design, including new Holiday Inn brand standards such as signature bedding and customised scent and music.
In the 2007 BDRC Asia Pacific Business Hotel Guest Survey, Holiday Inn was the top midscale hotel choice among business travellers in India and across Asia Pacific. Holiday Inn was also named the best mid market hotel brand in Asia Pacific and the world by readers of Business Traveller Asia Pacific for seven consecutive years.
Peter Gowers, chief executive, IHG Asia Pacific, said: "India is an important market for IHG, where both domestic and international traffic is increasing and new travel segments are opening up. In the Indian hotel business, the greatest opportunity for growth is in the midscale segment, in which Holiday Inn has a leading position. Holiday Inn now accounts for almost three quarters of our new developments in India. An increasing portfolio of new hotels will ensure Holiday Inn continues to be the number one midscale hotel choice among guests and owners."
IHG has an existing portfolio of 13 hotels in India, including five Holiday Inn hotels. It has a pipeline of 20 hotels (more than 5,000 rooms) in India under the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands. IHG's Priority Club Rewards, the world's largest hotel loyalty programme with 37 million members worldwide, recently welcomed India's Jet Airways as its newest airline partner.
Holiday Inn is one of the world's largest hotel brands, with 1,381 hotels globally and 94 hotels across Asia Pacific. It is also one of the world's fastest growing brands, with 365 hotels in the global pipeline. Late last year, IHG announced a worldwide US$1 billion relaunch for Holiday Inn, which will ensure the brand maintains its leadership position. The relaunch incorporates insights from IHG's extensive consumer research, which gathered input from 18,000 travellers globally.
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