Chain of the month: IHG

The InterContinental Phoenicia Beirut was IHG's first MENA property. In September the hotel celebrated its 50th birthday with a weekend of food, fun a

InterContinental Hotels Group was the first international hotel chain to enter the Middle East and North Africa market and 50 years on we certainly haven’t heard the last from it, with 41 hotels in the regional development pipeline and a knack for reinventing itself

The year 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of InterContinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) presence in the Middle East and North Africa.

The anniversary is a landmark occasion for IHG, which was the first international hotel chain to enter the region with the opening of the InterContinental Phoenicia in Beirut in December 1961.

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Over the years, the hotel group and its brands have laid claim to a number of hotel industry firsts.

First for expansion
One of the most significant was in 1954 when Holiday Inn, the brand pioneered in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson as an affordable ‘destination’ lodging for families travelling across the US, became the first hotel franchise, leading to massive growth.

As a result of the success of the franchise agreements, it became the first chain to reach a 300,000-room inventory in 1956, and in 1972, Time magazine reported that a new Holiday Inn hotel was opening every three days.

Today, Holiday Inn and sub-brand Holiday Inn Express (HIEX), born in 1991 as the US’ first limited-service brand, continue to expand globally, with 10 Holiday Inns and four Holiday Inn Expresses in IHG’s Middle East and North Africa upcoming properties pipeline.

IHG has also recognised the importance of reinventing the brand to keep up with the times. In 2007, the group announced a major re-launch of Holiday Inn, the industry’s largest brand.

“The initiative involved a billion dollars’ worth of upgrades across the world to make sure the Holiday Inn would remain fit for the next 50 years,” IHG senior vice president for sales and marketing — Asia, Middle East & Africa Karin Sheppard tells Hotelier Middle East.

“I see positive growth of the Holiday Inn brand across the Middle East and Africa. As we see low-cost airlines expand across the region we see a emerging type of traveller likely to seek out great value from a trusted brand, and that is exactly what Holiday Inn offers,” says Sheppard.

But looking at the MENA pipeline, it is clear the hotel group is not relying only on the Holiday Inn brand in its regional expansion. Among the hotels under development in the region are 11 Crowne Plaza properties — the brand which made its first appearance in Maryland, US in 1983 and now has more than 350 hotels worldwide; nine InterContinentals; and seven Staybridge Suites.

The Staybridge Suites brand, launched in 1997 targeting long-stay travellers, entered MENA in Cairo in 2008 followed by a second property which opened on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island a year later, and has been received well in the regional market. In the next five years, more Staybridge Suites will open in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon.

“Here, more so than in other parts of the world, there is a leisure market of people travelling with large families for extended periods and the Staybridge Suite concept is perfect for this market. It gives them more space, access to shared facilities where they can socialise and meet with other travellers and they have their own kitchen,” says Sheppard.

The firm has identified a “good opportunity” in the region for developing this brand, which offers a combination of traditional hotel facilities and the space and independence of a serviced apartment.

“We are probably one of the first global chains to introduce the extended-stay concept in the region and this is something we can definitely build on,” she adds.

In fact, the only brands which IHG has not officially earmarked for the region yet are Candlewood Suites and Hotel Indigo. While Sheppard confirms there are currently no plans to bring Candlewood Suites to MENA, it is a different story with Hotel Indigo, dubbed the first boutique hotel brand operated by an international hotel group.

Expansion of the brand into the Middle East is “firmly on the agenda”, with a new property expected to be announced in the UAE or Saudi Arabia within the next 12 months.

“We would like to introduce Hotel Indigo to the Middle East in key capital cities, something we’re working actively on,” Sheppard reveals.

“In the very near future, we’d certainly be able to announce what our intentions are. This is a brand that is typically a new build so in terms of when it will open, that could take a little longer.”

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