InterContinental Group cancels Belgrade hotel agreement

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has cancelled its agreement with Serb company Internacional CG Geneks Sistem, according to Belgrade newspaper Danas.

It means Belgrade's InterContinental hotel will no longer be able to trade under the IHG banner.

Local daily newspaper Blic reported that IHG's reason for doing so may be that the Serb company did not inform the Serb Agency for Privatisation about the agreement, signed in October 2005, as it was supposed to do.

Blic added that failure to do so made the agreement illegal and that InterContinental may have ended it as soon as it became aware of the situation.

In a statement IHG confirmed the management agreement signed in October 2005 had been terminated and added that the hotel would no longer be allowed to use the IHG brand. It did not say why.

However, Internacional CG Geneks Sistem deputy director Zika Mihajlovic did not believe the situation irretrievable. "We have started negotiations with InterContinental to renew the agreement," he said.

He declined to comment about the reason for IHG's decision, stating only that "the agreement was harmful" to both parties.

The new name of the hotel in the centre of Belgrade has not yet been revealed.

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By Jim Glenn

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