InterContinental group to launch three more mid-scale hotels this year

The company currently manages 27 hotels and another 42 are in the pipeline

Hospitality major InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is looking at adding three more mid-scale hotels in India during this year, as part of its plans to grab the opportunity in the country, where it sees the third largest growth in the global market. The company today opened a 136-room mid scale hotel Holiday Inn Express in Chennai in collaboration with Duet India Hotels.

"India is the third largest in terms of growth for us, after US and China. We have 27 hotels currently managed and 42 hotels in the pipeline, of which majority are in the mid-scale segment. This year, we have launched two hotels and will be launching three more in the mid scale segment," said Shantha de Silva, Head of South West Asia, IHG. The mid-scale hotels of the company are branded as Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.

The company will be opening Holiday Inn hotels in Chennai, Tirupathi and Kolkata, during the year. Holiday Inn brands and the upscale segment brand Crowne Plaza are expected to bring in more growth to the company in future.

The Chennai facility is the fourth under the JV with Duet India, and the 20 year agreement signed with them is for management of 19 hotels across the country, he said. The next hotels under the tie up would be for a Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express in Navi Mumbai. Under the partnership, the hotels will be owned by Duet India Hotels and managed by IHG.

The 136 room hotel launched in Chennai today, at Old Mahabalipuram Road, has the IT hub in its vicinity. The company, which has around 650 keys managed in the four hotels including the one opened today, is looking at launching a 200 room Holiday Inn property in Chennai by the enf of the year. With this, Chennai would be the only city in India to have all the brands of IHG, launched in the country, present in a single city, he claimed.

Naveen Jain, president, Duet Hotels said, "Currently we have acquired nine hotel assets with 1,586 rooms out of these six hotels with 1,012 rooms are already operational including four Holiday Inn Express, rest three are under various stages of development. Our initiative to drive foreign investment in the hospitality sector into India is proving to be quite successful."

IHG globally franchises, leases or manages or owns more than 5,000 hotels and 744,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries, with more than 1,300 hotels in its development pipeline.