InterContinental Hotels Group

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

Type	Public Limited Company
Traded as	NYSE: IHG LSE: IHG
Industry	Hotels
Founded	15 April 2003 (origins trace back to 1777)
Headquarters	Denham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Key people	Patrick Cescau (Chairman) Richard Solomons (CEO)
Services	Hospitality
Revenue	$1,835 million (2012)[1]
Operating income	$614 million (2012)[1]
Net income	$545 million (2012)[1]
Employees	7,981 (excluding franchises)
Divisions	Candlewood Suites Crowne Plaza Even Hotels Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express Hotel Indigo InterContinental Staybridge Suites
Website	www.ihgplc.com

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC informally InterContinental Hotels or IHG is a British multinational hotels company headquartered in Denham, UK. It is the largest hotel company in the world measured by rooms (with 675,982 as of December 2012), and has over 4,600 hotels across over 100 countries.^[2] Its brands include Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Even, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Hualuxe, InterContinental and Staybridge Suites. Of the 4,602 hotels, 3,934 operate under franchise agreements, 658 are managed by the company but separately owned, and 10 are directly owned.^[3]

History

Bass Hotels

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.^[4]

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]

InterContinental

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 (IHC) was sold to UK-based company Grand Metropolitan. As GrandMet focused its core business and expanded into fast food through the purchase of Burger King, it sold IHC to Japanese based Saison Group in 1988.^[4]

In March 1998, Saison Group sold IHC to British brewery Bass, which traces its roots back to 1777, when William Bass established the Bass Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent. In 1988, in reaction to the British government limiting the number of pubs which brewers could directly own, Bass invested in the expansion of its small line of hotels. 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]

In 2003, the independent corporation InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) was created after Six Continents split into two companies: Mitchells & Butlers took control of the restaurant assets^[5] and IHG focusing 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]

Operations

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 10 company-owned hotels include many key properties of company's flagship InterContinental brand.

IHG currently operates and/or franchises hotels in the following countries:

An IHG hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam

Brands

A 4* upmarket Holiday Inn in Belfast City Centre

An Uptown Houston Hotel Indigo

InterContinental Boston

• Candlewood Suites
• Crowne Plaza
• Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts,^[7] the number two hotel brand in the world by number of rooms^[8]
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations^[9]
• Holiday Inn Express (formerly known as Express by Holiday Inn in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America)^[10]
• Hotel Indigo
• InterContinental
• Staybridge Suites

In February 2012, IHG announced plans for a new wellbeing based concept called Even Hotels^[11] and in March 2012, a new luxury concept called "Hualuxe" to be rolled out initially in China.^[12]

IHG Rewards Club

IHG Rewards Club is IHG's worldwide loyalty program, which replaced Priority Club Rewards in July 2013. The loyalty scheme was first introduced in 1983, and now has 74 million members around the world.^[13]

IHG Business Advantage

Business Advantage is IHG's corporate programme designed for small and medium size businesses. As well as providing an easier way to organise, book and pay for hotel accommodation, Business Advantage also entitles their account holders to preferential rates at all IHG’s hotels across the UK and Northern Ireland.^[14]

Notable properties

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.^[15]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to InterContinental hotels.

• Corporate website
• Customer website (Mobile)
• IHG Corporate History
• IHG Global Hotel Directory
• Yahoo profile
• Priority Club Rewards
• A history of the Intercontinental Hotels Group by cosmopolis.ch
• Priority Club website
• IHG Business Advantage

v t e InterContinental Hotels Group Brands Current Candlewood Suites Crowne Plaza Even Hotels Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express Holiday Inn Garden Court Hotel Indigo InterContinental Staybridge Suites Former Holiday Inn Sunspree Resorts Notable hotels Crowne Plaza Crowne Plaza Shanghai Anting Golf Crowne Plaza Billings Crowne Plaza Belgrade Crowne Plaza İzmir Crowne Plaza Lebanon Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport Crowne Plaza Times Square New York Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls – Fallsview Crowne Plaza Prague Crowne Plaza San Antonio InterContinental InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam InterContinental Bali InterContinental Boston InterContinental Bucharest InterContinental Carlton Cannes InterContinental Hong Kong InterContinental Kabul InterContinental Kuwait Downtown InterContinental London InterContinental Manila InterContinental Miami InterContinental Muscat InterContinental New York Barclay InterContinental Phnom Penh Hotel Ponce Intercontinental InterContinental San Francisco InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental InterContinental Toronto Centre InterContinental Warsaw Willard InterContinental Washington People Andy Cosslett Ian Prosser Richard Solomons Juan Trippe Kemmons Wilson Other Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Category Commons

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