InterContinental Hotels Group

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

Type	Public
Traded as	LSE: IHG NYSE: IHG FTSE 100 Component
Industry	Conglomerate (Hotels)
Founded	2003 April 15 (origins trace back to 1777)
Headquarters	Denham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Key people	Christopher Marshall (Chairman) Richard Solomons (CEO)
Services	Hospitality
Revenue	$1,715 million (2016)[1]
Operating income	$707 million (2016)[1]
Net income	$417 million (2016)[1]
Number of employees	28,589 (2016)[2]
Divisions	Candlewood Suites Crowne Plaza Even Hotels Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express Hotel Indigo IHG Army Hotels InterContinental Staybridge Suites
Website	www.ihgplc.com

A 4-star upmarket Holiday Inn in Belfast City Centre

Atrium interior at the Holiday Inn Sarasota Airport in Sarasota, FL, another 3.5-4 star upmarket Holiday Inn

An Uptown Houston Hotel Indigo

InterContinental Boston

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, informally InterContinental Hotels or IHG, is a British multinational hotels company headquartered in Denham, UK.^[3] IHG has over 766,000 rooms and 5,174 hotels across nearly 100 countries.^[4] Its brands include Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, EVEN Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Hualuxe, InterContinental, Kimpton Hotels and Resorts and Staybridge Suites.^[5] Of the 5174 hotels, 4321 operate under franchise agreements, 845 are managed by the company but separately owned, and 8 are directly owned.^[6]

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 logo was the first ever trademark registered in the United Kingdom.^[7]

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 shareholders and expanded into North America.^[7]

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. On August 19, 1981, PanAm sold holding company InterContinental Hotels Corporation (IHC) to UK-based Grand Metropolitan for $500 million. 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.^[7]

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.^[7]

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^[8] and IHG focusing on hotels and soft drinks.^[7] IHG retained Britvic, the soft drinks division, until December 2005 when it sold its interest in the company by an initial public offering.^[9] In April/May 2014 the company reportedly rejected a $10 billion takeover bid from an unknown suitor, believed to be Starwood.^[10]

In April 2017 the company announced that it been the subject of a malware attack and that hackers had stolen credit card details.^[11]

Operations

The company worldwide headquarters and Europe offices are in Denham, Buckinghamshire in England.^[12][13] The Americas office is in Dunwoody, Georgia in Greater Atlanta.^[12][14] The Asia, Middle East, and Africa offices are in Singapore. The Greater China offices are in Pudong, Shanghai.^[12]

In 2006, IHG and Lend Lease Group (Lend Lease US Public Partnerships), joined forces in the Privatization of Army Lodging program.^[15] IHG Army Hotels is a division of IHG that manages on-post hotels and lodgings in 39 different locations in the U.S., including Puerto Rico.^[16]

Criticism

The InterContinental Hotels Group became the target of an international boycott campaign in May 2013 over their plan to operate an Intercontinental-brand luxury hotel in Lhasa, Tibet. According to campaigners from the Free Tibet campaign, the hotel was a "PR coup for the Chinese government". "^[17]

Brands

• Candlewood Suites
• Crowne Plaza
• Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts,^[18] the number two hotel brand in the world by number of rooms^[19]
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations^[20]
• Holiday Inn Express (formerly known as Express by Holiday Inn in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America)^[21]
• Hotel Indigo
• InterContinental
• Staybridge Suites
• Even Hotels
• Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
• HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts
• Holiday Inn Resort

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.^[22] The hotel in the Wilshire Grand Tower, under construction in downtown Los Angeles, will be the largest InterContinental in the Americas and the tallest building in Los Angeles.^[23]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to InterContinental hotels.

• A history of the Intercontinental Hotels Group by cosmopolis.ch
• Information of Public Interest - Holiday Inn Express Leigh