“We’ve achieved rapid growth in Greater China in recent years and we’re leading the competition in this important market. Three years ago we had around 50 hotels and now we’ve reached the milestone of having over 100, with more than 120 in the pipeline.”
Peter Gowers
President, Asia Pacific
With Hotel Indigo due to make its debut and our other brands growing fast, we've continued to develop quickly across the region, reports Peter Gowers.
Market performance
Greater China: We continue to grow well in Greater China, with more than 100 hotels now open and over 120 more in the pipeline (see story "Hitting 100!", right). This makes us the largest international hotel operator in the country by number of rooms. We now have more rooms here than in the UK. The Chinese tourism market continues to grow rapidly, with the country due to become one of the world’s biggest tourist destination within 10 years. We’re ideally positioned to benefit from this.
Japan: IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan, our joint venture with Japanese airline ANA, is developing well. By the end of 2008, we had nine co-branded ANA Crowne Plaza hotels including our first new signing, the ANA Crowne Plaza Niigata. We continue on our journey to rebrand all the former ANA hotels to ANA Crowne Plaza, ANA InterContinental and ANA Holiday Inn.
India: We have 13 hotels in India and there are still rich opportunities to expand here. India already has quite a number of luxury hotels and the next wave of development will be hotels that offer a full service at affordable prices for domestic consumers. So we’re launching Holiday Inn hotels across key metropolitan areas. We signed several multi-hotel deals in 2008 and are well positioned to grow in this market over the coming years.
Opened and on the way
In May we opened a 320-room Crowne Plaza at Singapore’s Changi Airport, the first international upscale hotel with direct access to Terminal 3.
We piloted new-look Holiday Inn hotels in six locations across Asia Pacific, including Shanghai, Bangkok and Sydney. Feedback has been very positive and the relaunch continues to roll out to all 125 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in the region. One of the new-style hotels is the Holiday Inn Express Minzuyuan, in the Olympic precinct in Beijing, which opened in time for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The Greater China pipeline includes six with Shimao Group, a real estate developer that plans to open them under three IHG brands across four Chinese cities by 2013. These six hotels alone will add 2,100 rooms to our system in China.
South Korea will see almost 1,000 more InterContinental and Holiday Inn rooms and suites, thanks to a deal signed in August to manage three properties, all due to open by the end of 2010.
Across Asia Pacific we now have 199 hotels in our development pipeline, so the main focus for the next few years is to get those open and trading successfully.
This includes Asia Pacific’s first Hotel Indigo and the first Holiday Inn in Vietnam (see stories, right).
Relationship with owners
We continue to extend our relationships with owners across the region. This success was reflected by 100 owners who joined us for our biggest ever leadership conference, held in Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China, in November. Owners and general managers came together to hear updates and our plans for 2009. We were delighted to be joined by Spence Wilson, the son of Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, who spoke to the audience about the importance of the Holiday Inn relaunch.
* Before exceptional items.
Caught on camera
Pictures taken by our employees worldwide
Our stories
Ozone cleans up in laundry test
Hotels across Asia Pacific are installing a new laundry system that uses ozone, a natural cleaning agent, after tests produced amazing results. The Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach in Australia found ozone was great in a cold wash and enabled huge savings in gas (70 per cent), electricity (55 per cent), water (21 per cent), and labour (17 per cent).
Chinese honours prove biggest is also best
We’ve scooped several awards in China, including ones for best hotel company and best employer.
We walked away with three honours at the China Hotel Starlight Awards, known as the ‘Oscars’ of China’s hospitality industry. IHG was named Best International Hotel Company, Priority Club Rewards was named Best Hotel Loyalty Programme in China and Edmond Ip, Chief Advisor for Asia Pacific, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition, the China Hotel Annual Forum named IHG as Best Employer in China’s Hotel Industry.
Two’s company in Taiwan
Holiday Inn Express Taichung Park, Taiwan
Only a year ago there were no Holiday Inn Express hotels in Taiwan – and now there are two. The brand made its debut in September with the 138-room Holiday Inn Express at Taoyuan, near the international airport. Then, one month later, it was joined by the 169-room Holiday Inn Express Taichung Park, in the island’s third largest city. Each of them is the first international branded hotel in its area.
It’s a winner
Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, Singapore
Holiday Inn has been named Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in the World and Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in Asia Pacific for the eighth year in a row.
The accolades, in the Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards, reflect the views of frequent business travellers who take part in an annual survey of travel-related services.
Indigo set to fly in Shanghai
Asia Pacific is to open its first Hotel Indigo in one of the most prestigious locations in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.
The 180-room Hotel Indigo Shanghai on the Bund will be on a riverfront site along the Huangpu River, with fantastic views of several historic sites. It’s due to open in time for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.
Hotel Indigo is expanding rapidly across the globe, with 22 hotels now open and 56 in the pipeline.
Hitting 100!
Crowne Plaza Zhongguancun, Beijing, People's Republic of China – our 100th hotel in China
Back in 1984, we were the first international hotel group to enter China when we opened a Holiday Inn in Beijing. In September we celebrated the opening of our 100th hotel, the Crowne Plaza Beijing Zhongguancun, in the heart of China’s silicon valley.
Our growth philosophy is summed up by the Chinese saying ‘Qian Li Zhi Xing Shi Yu Zu Xia’, which means ‘In order to achieve long-term success we have to start with a strong foundation’. Our 24-year history, and great team, is that strong foundation. Here’s to many more years, and many more hotels, in China!
InterContinental aims high
One of the region’s tallest buildings is to have an InterContinental hotel on its upper floors. The InterContinental Hanoi Landmark, due to open in 2011, will offer incredible views from a 70-storey, 336-metre tower to be built in the Vietnamese capital. The hotel will have 383 rooms and suites and 300 serviced residences. The hotel’s atrium lobby, restaurants and bars will be on the 60th floor of the Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower. Private lifts will lead to guest rooms and suites and on to the world’s highest Club InterContinental lounge on the top floor.
Vietnam has great growth potential for us. Hanoi is expected to attract two million international travellers and seven million domestic visitors by 2010. We have a development pipeline of nine hotels across four cities – Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang and Nha Trang.
Courageous Tess to the rescue
Our courageous Tess He, InterContinental Century City Chengdu, People's Republic of China
Many of our people displayed great courage when a massive earthquake hit the Sichuan Province of China in May.
One was Tess He, a housekeeper at the InterContinental Century City Chengdu. When the property was evacuated as a precaution against aftershocks an elderly man and woman were unable to leave – so Tess went up to their room and carried the lady out of the hotel on her back.
No IHG property in the region suffered significant damage from the earthquake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. But it affected the families of many employees, so IHG carried out a fundraising effort that generated more than one million Chinese Yuan (about $150,000). The money raised was used to help the families with accommodation or equipment for their homes and to support the Chinese Red Cross.
Holiday Inn thinks big in Vietnam
We’re set to open our first Holiday Inn hotels in Vietnam, with the signing of the Holiday Inn Hanoi Dong Da and Holiday Inn Hoi Ann. Holiday Inn Hanoi Dong Da will be part of the MBLand Tower, a mixed-development complex with an upmarket retail and commercial centre. The hotel will be in the highest and most recognisable building of the complex and will offer more than 300 rooms when it opens in 2012.
