IHG opens milestone 200th Chinese hotel

Global hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has unveiled its 200th hotel in Greater China with the opening of the InterContinental Shanghai Ruijin.

The property, owned by Shanghai Donghu Group Corporation, has been a landmark in the city for almost 100 years and will be the first of the group’s heritage hotels in Asia, making it the sixth globally under the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand.

Chief Executive of IHG, Richard Solomons, commented: “We were the first international company to enter the Chinese hotel market almost 30 years ago and it is now our second largest market in the world. The opening of our 200th hotel here is testament to how much our brands are loved by owners and guests alike.

Chen Geng Rong, president, Shanghai Donghu Group Corporation added: “We are very proud of this historical property and pleased to put it in the hands of IHG, one of the earliest partners in China’s hospitality industry.

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"With IHG’s international hotel management expertise and our local knowledge and resources, I have no doubt of the success of this partnership and that of InterContinental Shanghai Ruijin.”

IHG currently has a further 170 properties in the development pipeline and the group’s footprint has expanded to more than 70 cities, two-thirds of which are in the rapidly emerging tier 2, 3 and 4 cities.

The chain says that according to the forecasts by the World Tourism Organization, the Chinese hotel room market will overtake that of the US, currently the largest in the world, by 2025. By 2039 China’s hotel market will be twice the size of the US.

In light of the rapidly growing market, IHG has strengthened its commitment to China. Over the next 20 years, the group plans to increase by almost eightfold the number of hotel rooms it has in the country, which equates to about 360,000 rooms and an additional 300,000 new jobs.