| Type | Public limited company |
|---|---|
| Traded as | LSE: IHG NYSE: IHG |
| Industry | Hospitality, Hotels |
| Founded | 15 April 2003 (origins trace back to 1777) |
| Headquarters | Denham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Philip Naughton (Chairman) Andy Cosslett (CEO) |
| Products | Brands include: InterContinental Crowne Plaza Hotel Indigo Staybridge Suites Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express Candlewood Suites |
| Revenue | US$1,628 million (2009/10)[1] |
| Operating income | US$444 million (2009/10)[1] |
| Net income | US$293 million (2009/10)[1] |
| Website | http://ihgplc.com |
InterContinental Hotels Group plc (informally InterContinental Hotels or IHG) (LSE: IHG, NYSE: IHG) is a global hotels company headquartered in Denham, United Kingdom. It is the largest hotels company in the world measured by rooms (with 646,000 as of January 2010), and has over 4,500 hotels across over 100 countries.[2] Its brands include Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, InterContinental and Staybridge Suites. Approximately 3,800 of its hotels operate under franchise agreements, 639 are managed by the company but separately owned and 16 are directly owned.[3]
InterContinental Hotels has its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
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The origins of InterContinental Hotels Group can be traced back to 1777, when William Bass established the Bass Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent. In 1876, its red triangle trademark was the first registered in the United Kingdom.
In 1989, the British Government limited the number of pubs which brewers could directly own, resulting in Bass investing in the expansion of its small line of hotels. In 1990, it purchased Holiday Inn International from Kemmons Wilson and expanded into North America.[4]
Pan American Airways founder Juan Trippe established the InterContinental brand as a division of PanAm and opened the first hotel in Belém, Brazil in 1946. In 1981, holding company InterContinental Hotels Corporation was sold to UK-based company Grand Metropolitan. As GrandMet focused it core business and expanded into fast food through the purchase of Burger King, it sold ICH to Japanese based Saison Group in 1988.[4]
In March 1998, Saison Group sold IHC to Bass. In 2000, Bass sold its brewing assets (and the rights to the Bass name) to the major Belgian brewer Interbrew for £2.3 billion and changed its name to Six Continents.[4]
IHG was created in 2003 after Six Continents split into two companies: Mitchells & Butlers took control of the restaurant assets[5] and IHG focused on hotels and soft drinks.[4] IHG retained Britvic, the soft drinks division, until December 2005 when it sold its interest in the company by an initial public offering.[6]
IHG is primarily engaged in managing hotels owned by other parties and in franchising its hotel brands. That is, it sells its expertise in hotel management, systems, and marketing, while leaving investment in real property, which is far more capital intensive, requires different skills, and has a different risk profile, primarily to its partners. This is not an unusual arrangement in the hotel industry. The 16 corporately-owned hotels include many key properties of company's flagship InterContinental brand.
IHG currently operates and/or franchises hotels in the following countries:
Priority Club Rewards is IHG's worldwide loyalty program. With 60 million global members, Priority Club is the largest loyalty program in the hotel industry.[11]
The Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport is the former terminal building of Liverpool Speke Airport, constructed in the 1930s and used until 1986. Its notable art deco features led to its listing as a heritage building, and subsequent adaption as a hotel. InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel is the only InterContinental branded hotel in the United Kingdom and one of only 5 hotels owned by IHG.
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