InterContinental Hotels Group

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

Type	Public
Traded as	LSE: IHG NYSE: IHG
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	$1,803 million (2015)[1]
Operating income	$680 million (2015)[1]
Net income	$1,224 million (2015)[1]
Number of employees	7,311 (2015)[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

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC informally InterContinental Hotels or IHG is a British multinational hotels company headquartered in Denham, UK.^[3] IHG has over 742,000 rooms and 5,028 hotels across nearly 100 countries.^[4] Its brands include Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Even, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Hualuxe, InterContinental, Kimpton Hotels and Resorts and Staybridge Suites.^[5] 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.^[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 Kemmons Wilson 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]

Operations

The company worldwide headquarters and Europe offices are in Denham, Buckinghamshire in England.^[11][12] The Americas office is in Dunwoody, Georgia in Greater Atlanta.^[11][13] The Asia, Middle East, and Africa offices are in Singapore. The Greater China offices are in Pudong, Shanghai.^[11]

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

In 2006, IHG and Lend Lease Group (Lend Lease US Public Partnerships), joined forces in the Privatization of Army Lodging program.^[14] 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.^[15]

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". "^[16]

Brands

• Candlewood Suites
• Crowne Plaza
• Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts,^[17] the number two hotel brand in the world by number of rooms^[18]
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations^[19]
• Holiday Inn Express (formerly known as Express by Holiday Inn in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America)^[20]
• Hotel Indigo
• InterContinental
• Staybridge Suites

In February 2012, IHG announced plans for a new wellbeing based concept called Even Hotels^[21] and in March 2012, a new luxury concept called "Hualuxe" to be rolled out initially in China.^[22]

16 December 2014, IHG announced it would acquire Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants for $430 million in cash. IHG plans to retain the Kimpton brand within the U.S. and expand it globally. The combined IHG-Kimpton portfolio will create the world's largest boutique hotel business.^[23][24]

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.^[25] 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.^[26]

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

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 Abu Dhabi Yas Island Crowne Plaza Shanghai Anting Golf Crowne Plaza Billings Crowne Plaza Belgrade Crowne Plaza Christchurch (former) Crowne Plaza Christchurch (late 2016) 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 Dhaka InterContinental Dublin Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake InterContinental Hong Kong InterContinental Kabul InterContinental Kuwait Downtown InterContinental London InterContinental Miami InterContinental New York Barclay InterContinental Nha Trang 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
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