By Chris ReiterNEW YORK (Reuters) - InterContinental Hotels Group Plc , the world's largest hotel company, said on Wednesday it plans to relaunch Holiday Inn, marking the 55-year-old brand's first major overhaul.InterContinental, which mainly manages or franchises hotels, expects the relaunch to boost the appeal of the widespread Holiday Inn chain, which hosts more than 300,000 people every night at more than 3,000 hotels.The company plans to invest up to 30 million pounds in 2008 to help pay for new signage at recently opened Holiday Inns and fund renovations at some high-profile hotels. It plans to record that amount as a one-time charge.Intercontinental expects Holiday Inn owners and franchisees to invest $1 billion over a three-year period to carry out the relaunch, which is required.Holiday Inn hotels will get new signs featuring an updated logo. The lobbies will have new lighting, landscaping and customized scents, and rooms will get new bedding and improved showerheads.The hotels with the new package will start cropping up in spring, with the roll-out expected to be completed by the end of 2010.InterContinental expects the relaunch to lead to a 3 percent to 7 percent increase in revenue per available room -- a key measure of hotel performance -- at Holiday Inn hotels and more than offset those expenses."That's material and will certainly pay back the investment," Andrew Cosslett, InterContinental's chief executive, told Reuters.With almost 1,000 properties under development, the company, which also operates the Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, and Staybridge brands, wants to refresh the mid-market brand ahead of the opening of a wave of new hotels."We choose the moment now to change the brand, because we have got all this growth ahead of us and this big pipeline and we wanted to make sure that it comes out with a new look and feel," said Cosslett.The company also hopes the relaunch will spur further growth by attracting new hotel owners."We expect to sign more deals going forward. I think we'll see a big surge of interest from outside our owner group" InterContinental's CEO said.(Reporting by Chris Reiter, with additional reporting by Dan Lalor in London)
(c) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
|
