Holiday Inn to get $1b global overhaul

25 October 2007 by
Holiday Inn to get $1b global overhaul

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has unveiled details of an ambitious three-year $1b (£489m) global overhaul of its Holiday Inn brand.

The initiative, announced to more than 4,500 hotel owners, managers and investors at IHG's annual Americas conference in Dallas today, will include the launch of a new logo along with investment in customer service, lobby areas, bedrooms and bathrooms.

All Holiday Inn hotels open or under development, including Express by Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, are expected to have implemented the rebrand by the end of 2010, with the first due to open next spring in the USA.

Owners and franchisees will invest up to $1b over three years, while IHG will contribute £30m towards the new signage.

Speaking to Caterer ahead of today's announcement, Andy Cosslett, chief executive of IHG, said the initiative would drive real financial benefits.

"We've franchised the hotels we run so we can focus on the things that matter and part of that is the look and feel," he said. "We believe we will be driving revpar (revenue per available room) up by between 3% and 7% - a meaningful number."

IHG resisted the temptation to completely change the Holiday Inn brand, which launched in the USA in 1952. "We've spent the past two years asking customers a lot of questions and we've created our biggest ever database of facts and insights,"

Cosslett said. "You have to make sure you're not going to put off your loyal customers and throw away 50 years of brand-building."

The rebrand, spearheaded by Nina Bibby, Mark Snyder and Peter Gowers from the IHG senior marketing team, has been welcomed by the International Association of Holiday Inn, which represents nearly 3,000 of the group's owners and operators.

InterContinental appoints chief marketing officer >>

InterContinental confident it will hit 2008 targets >>

£9m Holiday Inn opens at Norwich City FC >>

InterContinental to open 11 new Holiday Inns >>

By Daniel Thomas

E-mail your comments to Daniel Thomas](mailto:daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk?subject=Holiday Inn to get £1b global overhaul) here.

[The Caterer Blog](http://www.caterersearch.com/blogs/catering-news-blog/) Catch up with more news and gossip on the Caterer Blog here
[Newswire For the latest hospitality news, sign up for our e-mail news alerts.
The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking