by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:55 AM ET, Wed August 9, 2023
IHG Hotels & Resorts announced during a second-quarter
earnings call that the company plans to launch a new midscale conversion brand.
During the meeting, IHG Chief Executive Officer Elie Maalouf
said that the hospitality giant would be unveiling a “new brand targeted at
midscale conversion opportunities,” with potential for “considerable scale.”
While Maalouf touted the success of the Holiday Inn and
Holiday Inn Express brands in the upper midscale sector, he believes the new
brand will not “overlap much” with IHG’s current hotel portfolio.
The CEO also described the new midscale conversion brand as “really
different,” and said it would expand to “more than 500 hotels over the next 10
years, and more than 1,000 hotels over the next 20 years” in the United States.
“Our aim is that this new conversion brand will become the
first choice for guests and owners in the midscale segment, accelerating our
growth in a space that is already worth $14 billion in the U.S. market alone,” Maalouf
said.
“We just heard from guests that they want a more trusted
brand—an IHG brand—in the space, and we heard from owners that they would like
to be part of the IHG space,” Maalouf continued. “That's why we're targeting
the space.”
Officials also revealed that the hotel and resorts company
saw systemwide revenue per available room reach $89.88 in the second quarter, a
17-percent increase from 2022 and a 9.9 percent increase from 2019.
The average daily rate climbed 5.4 percent to $128.48 in the
second quarter, while occupancy reached 70 percent, a seven-percent increase
year-over-year, but still down 1.5 percent from pre-pandemic totals.
In June, IHG announced it would launch AirPlay
in hotel rooms in collaboration with Apple, allowing travelers to securely
share content from their iPhone or iPad to their guest room TV. AirPlay will
begin to roll out in select IHG hotels globally before the end of 2023.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe
to the daily TravelPulse
newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
