InterContinental Hotels Group

Last updated

InterContinental Hotels Group plc
Type Public limited company
LSE:  IHG
NYSE:  IHG
FTSE 100 Component
ISIN GB00BHJYC057  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Industry Hospitality
Founded15 April 2003;17 years ago (15 April 2003)
Headquarters Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Number of locations
5,977 hotels
889,582 rooms [1]  (November 2020)
Key people
Products Hotels, resorts
Revenue US$4.627 billion (2019) [2]
US$630 million (2019) [2]
US$386 million (2019) [2]
Owner Pan Am Corporation (1946-1981)
Grand Metropolitan (1981-1988)
Credit Saison (1988-1998)
Bass Brewery (1998-2000)
Interbrew (2000-2003)
Independent (2003-present)
Number of employees
36,643 (2019) [2]
Divisions InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
Regent Hotels & Resorts
Kimpton Hotels & Resorts
Candlewood Suites
Crowne Plaza
Even Hotels
Holiday Inn (including Club Vacations and Resort)
Holiday Inn Express
Hotel Indigo
Staybridge Suites
Website www.ihgplc.com

InterContinental Hotels Group plc, informally InterContinental Hotels or IHG, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. [3] IHG has about 889,582 guest rooms and over 5,900 hotels across nearly 100 countries. IHG owns several brands, including InterContinental, Regent Hotels, Six Senses Hotels, Kimpton Hotels and Resorts, Hualuxe, Crowne Plaza, voco Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn club vacations, avid, Candlewood Suites, EVEN Hotels, and Staybridge Suites. [4] It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Contents

History

Bass Hotels

The origins of the business can be traced back to 1777, when William Bass established the Bass Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent. In 1875, its red triangle logo was the first ever trademark registered in the United Kingdom. [5]

The company later changed its name and, in 1969, Bass Charrington, as it was known at the time, launched the Crest Hotel chain, marking its first entry into the lodging sector. [6]

In 1988, the British government limited the number of pubs which brewers could directly own, resulting in Bass's further investing in the expansion of its hotel business. This led to it purchasing Holiday Inn International from shareholders. [5]

InterContinental

Pan American Airways founder Juan Trippe established the American Intercontinental Hotels chain as a division of Pan Am and opened the first hotel in Belém, Brazil in 1946. On 19 August 1981, Pan Am sold the holding company Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation (IHC) to UK-based Grand Metropolitan for $500 million. [7] As GrandMet focused its core business and expanded into fast food through the purchase of Burger King, it sold IHC to the Japanese-based Saison Group in 1988. [8]

In March 1998, Saison Group sold IHC to the British brewery Bass. In 2000, Bass sold its brewing assets (and the rights to the Bass name) to the Belgian brewer Interbrew for £2.3 billion and changed its name to Six Continents. [5]

In 2003, the independent corporation InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) was created after Six Continents split into two companies: Mitchells & Butlers took control of the restaurant assets, [9] while IHG focused on hotels and soft drinks. [5] IHG retained Britvic, the soft drinks division, until December 2005 when it sold its interest in the company by an initial public offering. [10]

In April 2017, the company announced that it been the subject of a malware attack and hackers had stolen credit card details. [11]

Operations

Atrium interior at the Holiday Inn Sarasota Airport in Sarasota, Florida; 3 or 4 star upmarket hotel Atrium interior Holiday Inn Sarasota Airport.jpg
Atrium interior at the Holiday Inn Sarasota Airport in Sarasota, Florida; 3 or 4 star upmarket hotel
An Uptown Houston Hotel Indigo Hotel Indigo CIMG8676.JPG
An Uptown Houston Hotel Indigo
InterContinental Foshan Fo Shan Bao Li Zhou Ji Jiu Dian .jpg
InterContinental Foshan
InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco 01.JPG
InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco
Lounge InterContinental Singapore Lounge InterContinental Singapore.jpg
Lounge InterContinental Singapore

The company worldwide headquarters and Europe offices are in Denham, Buckinghamshire in England. [12] [13] The Americas office is in Dunwoody, Georgia in Greater Atlanta. [12] [14] The South East Asia & Korea offices are in Singapore, Australasia offices in Sydney, Japan offices in Tokyo, India Middle East & Africa offices in Dubai, and the Greater China offices are in Pudong, Shanghai. [12] In 2006, IHG and Lend Lease Group (Lend Lease US Public Partnerships), joined forces in the Privatization of Army Lodging program. [15]

As of 2012, of IHG's more than 5,400 hotels, 4,433 are operated under franchise agreements, 907 were managed by the company but separately owned, and eight were directly owned. [16] As at 31 March 2019, IHG has 842,759 guest rooms and 5,656 hotels across nearly 100 countries. [17]

Criticism

International boycott

The InterContinental Hotels Group became the target of an international boycott campaign in May 2013, over their plan to operate an Intercontinental-brand luxury hotel in Lhasa, Tibet. According to campaigners from the Free Tibet campaign, the hotel was a "PR coup for the Chinese government". [18]

Price fixing

In July 2012, the Office of Fair Trading alleged that IHG had broken competition law by preventing online travel agents from discounting the price of room-only hotel accommodation. In February 2014, IHG agreed to end the practice of price fixing. [19]

Data breach

In February 2017, the hotel chain admitted to a data breach. They asserted that the compromise was minor, having impacted 12 properties. However, in April 2017 it raised the number to 1,200 hotels. The attackers had installed malware designed to access payment card data, which could be used to clone cards and make fraudulent payments. [20]

VAT rules

In May 2012, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) warned IHG that it must not use adverts showing prices for hotel rooms excluding VAT. Because the ASA thought the adverts were likely to be viewed by consumers who must pay VAT, it had decided the adverts were misleading. It ordered IHG that the ads must not appear in their current form again. However, in August 2012, a report by Which? magazine showed that the hotel chain was still breaching VAT rules. [21]

Living wage

In November 2017, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, accused the hotel chain of reneging on a commitment to pay the living wage. [22]

Food poisoning

In July 2016 Intercontinental Adelaide was responsible for giving at least 70 diners salmonella food poisoning. Twenty-one of these people had to be treated at hospital. [23]

Hygiene standards

In September 2017 a consumer rights group accused Intercontinental Beijing Sanlitun of substandard hygiene conditions. Specifically during an undercover operation they had marked bed linen and toilets with an invisible stamp. Upon returning the next day the marks were still there. [24]

Loyalty scheme

In April 2015 IHG changed the terms and conditions of their Priority Club. Up until then the points were awarded for life and members were told that they would never expire. Following the change, points will now expire if no 'earn' or 'redeem' activity occurs within 12 consecutive months. Many of those members never received any communication about the change and their points expired. [25]

Brands

IHG Group has several brands, including: [26]

Luxury brands

Upscale

Mainstream

Notable properties

The Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport is the former terminal building of Liverpool Speke Airport, constructed in the 1930s and used until 1986. Its notable art deco features led to its listing as a heritage building, and subsequent adaption as a hotel. [27]

The hotel in the Wilshire Grand Tower in downtown Los Angeles is the largest InterContinental in the Americas and the tallest building in Los Angeles. [28]

The InterContinental Davos is well known for its modern architecture. [29]

The Hotel International Prague was owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group, until being sold in 2014. [30]

InterContinental Group is eliminating the travel-sized tubes of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel from its 843,000 rooms across its global chain of hotels. [31]

IHG Rewards Club

IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty programme for over 5,600 hotels under the IHG umbrella. There are three elite tiers of IHG rewards club which include Gold Elite, Platinum Elite and Spire Elite. [32]

Related Research Articles

Holiday Inn British-owned American brand of hotels, and a subsidiary of InterContinental Hotels Group

Holiday Inn is a UK-owned American brand of hotels, and a subsidiary of InterContinental Hotels Group. Founded as a U.S. motel chain, it has grown to be one of the world's largest hotel chains, with 1,173 active hotels and over 214,000 rentable rooms as of September 30, 2018. The hotel chain's headquarters are in Denham, Buckinghamshire.

Crowne Plaza Hotel chain

Crowne Plaza is a multinational chain of full service, upscale hotels headquartered in the United Kingdom. It caters to business travelers and the meetings and conventions market. It forms part of the InterContinental Hotels Group family of brands, which include InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, and operates in nearly 100 countries with more than 3600 hotels and 118,000 bedrooms, usually located in city centers, resorts, coastal towns or near major airports.

InterContinental Brand of luxury hotels

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is a luxury hotel brand founded in 1946 by Pan Am's Founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of November 2020, there were 210 InterContinental hotels featuring over 71,045 rooms worldwide.

Holiday Inn Express

Holiday Inn Express is a mid-priced hotel chain within the InterContinental Hotels Group family of brands. Originally founded as an "express" hotel, their focus is on offering limited services at a reasonable price. Standard amenities lean toward the convenient and practical which cater to business travelers and short-term stays. As of September 2019, there are 2,826 Holiday Inn Express hotels featuring over 292,000 rooms worldwide.

Six Continents A former large British-based hotel and hospitality business

Six Continents was a large British-based hotel and hospitality business which was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Candlewood Suites

Candlewood Suites is a hotel chain within the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

Promus Hotel Corporation was a hotel owner, management, and franchise company based in Memphis, Tennessee. Spun off from the Holiday Corp. in December 1989 as Promus Companies, the company became Promus Hotel Corporation in 1995 after the firm's gambling interests were spun off as Harrah's Entertainment. Promus Hotel Corp. ceased to exist after its purchase by Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1998.

Crowne Plaza Belgrade

Crowne Plaza Belgrade is a four-star hotel located in New Belgrade, Serbia. With its 387 rooms and 29 suites, it is the biggest hotel in the city in terms of capacity.

Staybridge Suites

Staybridge Suites is an all-suite, residential-style brand of hotels within the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). The brand targets extended-stay and corporate travelers. There are over 200 Staybridge Suites hotels open in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and South America.

Regent Hotels & Resorts

Regent Hotels & Resorts is a luxury hospitality brand, jointly owned by InterContinental Hotels Group and Formosa International Hotels Corporation since June 2018, with hotels and resorts in Asia and Europe. Since the formation of the joint venture, the brand logo and monogram have been refreshed and works have begun to reposition the brand at the top end of the luxury hotel segment.

Grand Metropolitan

Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form Diageo in 1997.

Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Riverfront

The Crowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Riverfront, is a 367-room, 25-story high-rise hotel opened in 1965, adjacent to TCF Center in Downtown Detroit, Michigan.

InterContinental Hong Kong

InterContinental Hong Kong was an InterContinental hotel in Hong Kong. Opened as a Regent hotel in 1980, it is located on 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, on the former site of Holt's Wharf. InterContinental Hong Kong is close to many tourist attractions like Hong Kong Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong Space Museum and Star Ferry Pier.

Andrew Peter Cosslett is a British businessman and chairman of the Rugby Football Union, and Kingfisher plc.

InterContinental Toronto Centre

The InterContinental Toronto Centre, is a hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre complex on Front Street West in the former Railway Lands. The hotel is managed by InterContinental Hotels.

Sands Cotai Central Casino resort on the Cotai Strip, Macau

Sands Cotai Central is a casino resort on the Cotai Strip, Macau. On 5 August 2011, Sands China announced that the $4 billion property long referred to as parcels five and six is now officially named Sands Cotai Central. It opened on 11 April 2012.

Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park

Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, formerly the Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers, is a five-star hotel located on TTK Road in Chennai, India.

Richard Leslie Solomons is a British businessman, the chief executive of InterContinental Hotels Group until July 2017, when he was succeeded by Keith Barr.

IHG Army Hotels

IHG Army Hotels is a collection of private-sector hotels located on Army installations and Joint Bases throughout the U.S. It is the result of a partnership between InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Lend Lease Group. This partnership was formed in response to the Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) program by the United States Army. The Army’s request for qualifications (RFQ) sought to fulfill specific requirements that included improving the quality of on-post lodgings throughout the U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. This RFQ sought entities with experience in the management of room inventory and hotel service, expertise in construction, and financing experience relating to the upgrades and renovations of existing on-post Army lodgings. U.S. Army awarded the PAL program to Lend Lease (US) with a 50-year lease deal, and IHG, with a 25-year management agreement with options to extend. As part of the RFP agreement, these hotels provide lodging to service members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, government and civilian contractors, military families, veterans, civilians and retirees. There are 76 IHG-branded hotels with about 11,600 rooms located on Army bases in the U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

ANA Hotels is a Japanese hotel chain established in 1973 by All Nippon Airways (ANA). In October 2006, ANA sold majority ownership of ANA Hotels to the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which is now the primary shareholder. The managed properties of ANA Hotels are marketed under the ANA InterContinental, ANA Crowne Plaza, ANA Hotels and ANA Holiday Inn brands.

References

  1. ↑ "IHG global presence". InterContinental Hotels Group PLC. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Annual Report 2019". InterContinental Hotels Group PLC. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  3. ↑ "InterContinental Hotels Group PLC ADS". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Profile:InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG)". Reuters. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Our History". Intercontinental Hotels Group. ihgplc.com. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Bass / Six Continents". Ad Brands. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Grand Met Hotel Sale Indicated". The New York Times. 30 September 1988. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Tokyo Group to Buy Hotel Chain for $2.27 Billion: British Owner Accepts Seibu Saison's Cash Offer for Inter-Continental". LA Times. 1 October 1988. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Our History". Mitchells & Butlers. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  10. ↑ Nick Golding (12 January 2005). "Britvic IPO sees staff get £750 shares each". Employee Benefits Group. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  11. ↑ "Holiday Inn hotel chain reveals malware attack that stole credit card info". USA Today. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  12. 1 2 3 Regional Headquarters
  13. ↑ "Denham Location Map" (PDF). InterContinental Hotels Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014. IHG, Broadwater Park North Orbital Road, Denham, Buckinghamshire UB9 5HR
  14. ↑ "Map of Dunwoody". City of Dunwoody. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  15. ↑ "Privatized Army Lodging" . Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "Annual Report 2012" (PDF). IHG. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  17. ↑ "IHG overview". InterContinental Hotels Group. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  18. ↑ Branigan, Tania (23 May 2013). "Tibetan activists launch boycott of InterContinental over hotel plans". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  19. ↑ George, Sara (31 January 2014). "Investigation into the hotel online booking sector". webarchive.NationalArchives.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  20. ↑ Osborne, Charlie. "InterContinental data breach expands from 12 to 1,200 hotels". ZDNet.com. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  21. ↑ "Hotels chains 'breaching VAT rules'". The Telegraph. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  22. ↑ Inman, Phillip (10 November 2017). "Sadi​ Khan: Holiday Inn owner has broken vow to pay living wage". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  23. ↑ "Eggs blamed for salmonella outbreak at Adelaide's InterContinental - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  24. ↑ "Video sparks hygiene concerns in Beijing hotels, East Asia News & Top Stories". The Straits Times. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  25. ↑ "REMINDER: IHG Rewards Club Points Expire If No Activity For 12 Months!". LoyaltyLobby. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  26. ↑ "Our brands". InterContinental Hotels Group. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  27. ↑ "Recent History and Current Developments". Fola.org.uk. Friends of Liverpool Airport. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2008.
  28. ↑ Vincent, Roger (23 September 2014). "Hotel under construction in downtown L.A. will be an InterContinental". Los Angeles Times .
  29. ↑ "The building they said they couldn't build". Phaidon. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  30. ↑ Crous, André (5 October 2014). "Hotel International Prague: A red-letter hotel". The Prague Post . Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  31. ↑ Business, Jordan Valinsky, CNN. "Holiday Inn owner ditches tiny hotel soaps and shampoos". CNN. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  32. ↑ "IHG Credit Card UK – Which IHG Rewards Card to Choose?". Thrifty Points. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
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