InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced four new signings across four brands last week, marking its continuous expansion across the Middle East: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo. The signings will see the hotel company grow its presence by about 600 rooms across the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over the next three to five years.
Together with leading real estate developers Diamond Developers, IHG will open the second Hotel Indigo in the UAE. The 170-room hotel Indigo, Dubai to open in 2017 will be a part of Dubai's first sustainable integrated development.
Pascal Gauvin, chief operating officer, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG says, “We are growing stronger than ever in the Middle East and we are absolutely focussed on continuing to strengthen our brands’ presence here. We are delighted to have announced some great additions to the IHG family in the region and this is an achievement made possible only with the support of our partners. We look forward to work closely with Diamond Developers, the Bukhamseen Group and DUR Hospitality Company to deliver great guest experiences in some truly excellent hotels when they open in the region.”
The hotel will be a Net Zero energy building, where 100 per cent of its energy needs will be met by solar power. All waste water produced by the hotel would be recycled. The material wastes would be sorted at source and later recycled.
Also, the guests will be provided a solar powered shuttle bus transportation service that would ensure good connectivity to the city.
Further, Hotel Indigo which is expected to launch next year in SaudiArabia is considered to be the third in the Middle-East. The launch of the hotel is based on the agreement signing between Hotel Indigo Dubai Business Bay and the Hotel Indigo Riyadh King Abdullah Financial District in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, IHG also strengthened its 30-year relationship with Bukhamseen Group in Kuwait with a multi-deal signing. Under the management agreement between IHG and Al Baraka General Trading and Contracting Company, owned by leading Kuwaiti conglomerate Bukhamseen Holding Group, IHG will manage a new 120-room InterContinental hotel and 232-room Crowne Plaza hotel in Farwaniya, Kuwait; whilst the existing Crowne Plaza Kuwait will be converted into a 336-room Holiday Inn.
Additionally, a 20-year renewal was signed for the 189-room Holiday Inn Kuwait Salmiyah. The four agreements, together with Holiday Inn Cairo Maadi which opened last year, will see IHG manage a total of more than 1,000 rooms across three brands with the Bukhamseen family: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, and Holiday Inn.
IHG is the largest international hotel company in Saudi Arabia with 25 properties (5,900 rooms) open across three brands: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn. The company has eight further properties in the pipeline due to open in the next three to five years, including Hotel Indigo Riyadh King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) which will be the first Hotel Indigo property in the Middle East.
At present, the company has three hotels open across two brands in Kuwait: Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn. The company has one hotel in the pipeline: InterContinental Kuwait Downtown, which will mark the launch of the InterContinental brand in the market.
Saudi Arabia continues to be a key market for IHG and this is demonstrated by the signing of a franchise agreement for the first Holiday Inn in Tabuk with DUR Hospitality Company (formerly Saudi Hotels and Resort Co or SHARACO). The 83-room Holiday Inn Tabuk is the first hotel to be developed under the master development agreement (MDA) inked between IHG and DUR Hospitality Company last year. The company’s third Holiday Inn hotel under the pipeline in Saudi Arabia, Holiday Inn Tabuk will join the 10 Holiday Inn hotels currently open in the country when it opens later this year.
IHG has 75 properties open across five brands in the Middle East: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Staybridge Suites, with an additional 25 hotels due to open over the next three to five years.
In the UAE, IHG has 18 hotels open across five brands: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Staybridge Suites, with another 10 hotels in the development pipeline.
Currently, there are 11 Holiday Inn hotels in Saudi Arabia and two hotels in the development pipeline, including Holiday Inn Makkah: the largest Holiday Inn in the world with 1,238 rooms. Globally, there are nearly 1,200 Holiday Inn hotels (over 220,000 rooms) open around the world, with an additional 267 hotels (nearly 53,000 rooms) due to open in the next three to five years.
