Holiday Inn on Track with US$1bil Rebranding
APRIL 9, 2009 - Holiday Inn's US$1bn revamp of its 3,200 worldwide hotels is going to plan, and despite the downturn, the rebranded hotels are reporting strong rises in revenues compared to those that have yet to be converted. That's the message InterContinental Hotels, the owner of the Holiday Inn brand, will make to an address of owners in Atlanta, Georgia today.
Over 600 hotels have already been refurbished, in what IHG claims is the biggest rebranding to have ever been undertaken in the hotel industry. The project involves not only a new logo but also a widescale upgrading of standards from bedding and furnishings to garden landscaping.
According to a survey conducted by IHG, converted hotels demonstrated improvements in guest satisfaction and revpar gains of more than 5 percent.
In addition to the portfolio of 3,200 existing hotels, the new look will appear on the 1,100 new Holiday Inns scheduled to open over the next three years. IHG says that, across all its brands, it is on track to open 400 hotels this year, the majority of them Holiday Inns, creating about 25,000 jobs, mainly in North America and China.
Andy Cosslett, IHG's chief executive, has said that feedback from customers and owners showed widespread acceptance for what he described as a "refreshed and contemporary brand image".
Unveiled 18 months ago, the launch has sparked controversy. IHG is investing US$60m towards the programme, with individual owners footing the rest of the bill.
In November Chinese hoteliers called for a delay due to tight cash flow. IHG operates around 100 hotels in China, with another 100 in the pipeline, with China recently overtaking the UK to become the group's second-most important market after America.
The company decided several years ago that the Holiday Inn brand - established by Kemmons Wilson in Memphis, Tennessee in 1952 - had become dated, particularly in its American heart-land. So the makeover is running concurrently with a programme to remove poorer-quality Holiday Inn properties at a rate of about 150 a year.
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