Holiday Inn’s £600m relaunch gathers pace
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has revealed they are on track to upgrade every hotel within the Holiday Inn brand by 2010, with 25 per cent of the UK and Ireland properties already completed.
As part of a £600m relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand, which also includes Holiday Inn Express, IHG aim to upgrade and contemporise each of the 3,200 properties around the world to improve quality.
So far the group have relaunched 50 out of 200 properties in the UK and Ireland, the most recent being the Holiday Inn Slough Windsor, and claim revPar in the refurbished hotels is up five per cent on those still expecting a makeover.
Paul Johnston, managing director of Kew Green Hotels, whose entire Holiday Inn estate has been successfully updated, said the results of the group’s ‘big investment’ were rewarding.
“We see the downturn as the right time for people to reassess brands they may not have tried for some time,” he said. “We're hoping business and leisure travellers will try out our hotels now and keep coming back.”
Holiday Inn’s lobbies now have their own signature smell and music programme, which changes from upbeat to relaxing tempos throughout the day, while the brand’s logo has also undergone its first makeover in 50 years. All Express by Holiday Inn hotels will also now become Holiday Inn Express hotels to create global consistency.
Tom Seddon, chief marketing officer, talks about relaunching 1000 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world:
