Hong Kong SAR, 16 October 2008 – Leading hotel group IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) launched its fast growing lifestyle Hotel Indigo® brand to the Asia Pacific region. The brand is set to excite upscale travelers looking for something beyond traditional hotel offerings.
Hotel Indigo will be IHG’s fifth brand in the region after InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts and Holiday Inn Express.
Since opening the first hotel in Atlanta in the United States in 2004, Hotel Indigo® quickly won recognition for its differentiated design philosophy, its ability to generate consistently high guest satisfaction and returns for hotel owners.
Hotel Indigo will first make its appearance in key Asia Pacific cities including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo to cater to guests who are looking for enriching destination experiences.
“Hotel Indigo really meets the needs of the next generation of customers in Asia Pacific who demand a stylish, individual hotel experience without pretentiousness,” said Peter Gowers, chief executive of IHG Asia-Pacific. “Each Hotel Indigo has its own unique character – a blend of style, natural elements and the distinctive flavor of the local area. With the launch of Hotel Indigo, there is now a new way for guests to experience Asia-Pacific’s major cities and a new path for real estate developers to regenerate properties with their own creative flair.”
IHG conducted extensive consumer research in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo to understand travelers’ insight and needs about lifestyle hotels versus traditional corporate style hotels, what consumers truly would appreciate in order to clearly differentiate the Hotel Indigo proposition. The results clearly showed that Asia-Pacific travelers show great interest in style and design, and appreciate individual character.
Hotel Indigo will be a unique co-creation of IHG and the hotels’ owners. An element fuelling its global growth is the Interpret Indigo™ design concept, which delivers on its promise to be non-traditional. Driving the brand’s ability to offer unique product design from location to location, Interpret Indigo™ is a key differentiator of Hotel Indigo that appeals to owners and the development community alike.
The design concept allows prospective developers the opportunity to creatively interpret the hotel design in order to capture and reflect the local character and culture of its location while maintaining brand identity. For example, Hotel Indigo London Paddington will incorporate local architectural influences from the well-known Paddington Station, including murals of ornate metalwork and in-room artwork that is reflective of London.
As a result, no two Hotel Indigo will look alike. Like an individual acquiring collectables, each hotel experience in Asia Pacific will become a ‘collectable’ experience – leading guests to wonder what the next Hotel Indigo will look and feel like.
Another Hotel Indigo signature will be its intimate service – engaging, intuitive, and particular to the locality. To ensure that the customers are intrigued with changing experiences, public spaces like the lobbies will be transformed regularly throughout the year through the use of the latest audio, visual and scent technology.
Hotel Indigo is quickly expanding across the globe, with 19 locations open and more than 60 in the pipeline. It participates in IHG's Priority Club® Rewards which is the industry's largest guest loyalty program with more than 39 million members. For more information on Hotel Indigo, please visit www.hotelindigo.com.
Contacts: Sheo S. Rai Kelly Leahy
IHG Asia Pacific Ruder Finn Asia
+65 6395 6074 +65 9489 3364
sheoshanker.rai@ihg.com leahyk@ruderfinnasia.com
Notes to Editors:
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 4,000 hotels and more than 590,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel Indigo®, and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club® Rewards with over 39 million members worldwide.
IHG has more than 1,700 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create 150,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.
IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards program at www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press Office at www.ihg.com/media
Stephen Boggs
Senior Manager
Corporate Communications
Direct Line: 770.604.5793
Fax: 770.604.2059
http://www.ihg.com
IHG
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