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IHG Hotels & Resorts

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Not to be confused with Continental Hotel.

InterContinental Hotels Group plc
Company typePublic limited company
LSE: IHG
NYSE: IHG
FTSE 100 Component
ISINGB00BHJYC057 Edit this on Wikidata
IndustryHospitality
FoundedApril 15 2003; 21 years ago (April 15 2003)
HeadquartersDenham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Number of locations
5,723 hotels
855,915 rooms[1] (August 2018)
Key people
Christopher Marshall (Chairman)
Keith Barr
(CEO)[2]
ProductsHotels, resorts
RevenueUS$4.337 billion (2018)[3]
US$566 million (2018)[3]
US$352 million (2018)[3]
Number of employees
35,330 (2018)[3]
DivisionsRegent Hotels & Resorts
Kimpton Hotels & Resorts
Candlewood Suites
Crowne Plaza
Even Hotels
Holiday Inn (including Club Vacations and Resort)
Holiday Inn Express
Hotel Indigo
InterContinental
Staybridge Suites
Websitewww.ihgplc.com

InterContinental Hotels Group plc, informally InterContinental Hotels or IHG, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England.[4] IHG has about 842,749 guest rooms and 5,656 hotels across nearly 100 countries. IHG owns several brands including InterContinental, Regent Hotels, Six Senses Hotels, Kimpton Hotels and Resorts, Hualuxe, Crowne Plaza, voco Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn club vacations, avid, Candlewood Suites, EVEN Hotels, and Staybridge Suites.[5]

History

Bass Hotels

The origins of the business can be traced back to 1777, when William Bass and Kenneth Richmond established the Bass Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent. In 1876, its red triangle logo was the first ever trademark registered in the United Kingdom.[6]

In 1969, Bass Charrington, as it was at the time, launched the Crest Hotel chain, marking its first entry into the lodging sector.[7]

In 1989, the British Government limited the number of pubs which brewers could directly own, resulting in Bass's further investing in the expansion of its hotel business. This led to it purchasing Holiday Inn International from shareholders.[6]

InterContinental

Main article: InterContinental

Pan American Airways founder Juan Trippe established the Intercontinental Hotels chain as a division of Pan Am and opened the first hotel in Belém, Brazil in 1946. On 19 August 1981, Pan Am sold the holding company Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation (IHC) to UK-based Grand Metropolitan for $50 million.[8] As GrandMet focused its core business and expanded into fast food through the purchase of Burger King, it sold IHC to the Japanese-based Saison Group in 1988.[9]

In March 1998, Saison Group sold IHC to the British brewery Bass. In 2000, Bass sold its brewing assets (and the rights to the Bass name) to the Belgian brewer Interbrew for £2.3 billion and changed its name to Six Continents.[6]

In 2003, the independent corporation InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) was created after Six Continents split into two companies: Mitchells & Butlers took control of the restaurant assets,[10] while IHG focused on hotels and soft drinks.[6] IHG retained Britvic, the soft drinks division, until December 2005 when it sold its interest in the company by an initial public offering.[11] In April/May 2014, the company reportedly rejected a $10 billion takeover bid from an unknown suitor, believed to be Starwood.[12]

In April 2017, the company announced that it been the subject of a malware attack and hackers had stolen credit card details.[13]

Operations

Atrium interior at the Holiday Inn Sarasota Airport in Sarasota, Florida; 3 or 4 star upmarket hotel
An Uptown Houston Hotel Indigo
InterContinental Foshan
InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco
Lounge InterContinental Singapore

The company worldwide headquarters and Europe offices are in Denham, Buckinghamshire in England.[14]"Denham Location Map" (PDF). InterContinental Hotels Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014. IHG, Broadwater Park North Orbital Road, Denham, Buckinghamshire UB9 5HR {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)</ref> The Americas office is in Dunwoody, Georgia in Greater Atlanta.[14][15] The South East Asia & Korea offices are in Singapore, Australasia offices in Sydney, Japan offices in Tokyo, India Middle East & Africa offices in Dubai, and the Greater China offices are in Pudong, Shanghai.[14] In 2006, IHG and Lend Lease Group (Lend Lease US Public Partnerships), joined forces in the Privatization of Army Lodging program.[16]

As of 2012, of IHG's more than 5,400 hotels, 4,433 are operated under franchise agreements, 907 were managed by the company but separately owned, and eight were directly owned.[17] As at 31 March 2019, IHG has 842,759 guest rooms and 5,656 hotels across nearly 100 countries.[18]

Criticism

International boycott

The InterContinental Hotels Group became the target of an international boycott campaign in May 2013, over their plan to operate an Intercontinental-brand luxury hotel in Lhasa, Tibet. According to campaigners from the Free Tibet campaign, the hotel was a "PR coup for the Chinese government".[19]

Price fixing

In July 2012, the Office of Fair Trading alleged that IHG had broken competition law by preventing online travel agents from discounting the price of room-only hotel accommodation. In February 2014, IHG agreed to end the practice of price fixing.[20]

Data breach

In February 2017, the hotel chain admitted to a data breach. They asserted that the compromise was rather minor, having only impacted 12 properties. However, in April 2017 it raised the number to 1200 hotels. The attackers had installed malware designed to access payment card data, which could be used to clone cards and make fraudulent payments.[21]

VAT rules

In May 2012, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) warned IHG that it must not use adverts showing prices for hotel rooms excluding VAT. Because the ASA thought the adverts were likely to be viewed by consumers who must pay VAT, it had decided the adverts were misleading. It ordered IHG that the ads must not appear in their current form again. However, in August 2012, a report by Which? magazine showed that the hotel chain was still breaching VAT rules.[22]

Living wage

In November 2017, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, accused the hotel chain of reneging on a commitment to pay the living wage.[23]

Food Poisoning

In July 2016 Intercontinental Adelaide was responsible for giving at least 70 diners salmonella food poisoning. Twenty-one of these people had to be treated at hospital[24]

Hygiene Standards

In September 2017 a consumer rights group accused Intercontinental Beijing Sanlitun of substandard hygiene conditions. Specifically during an undercover operation they had marked bed linen and toilets with an invisible stamp. Upon returning the next day the marks were still there.[25]

Loyalty Scheme

In April 2015 IHG changed the terms and conditions of their Priority Club. Up until then the points were awarded for life and members were told that they would never expire. Following the change, points will now expire if no 'earn' or 'redeem' activity occurs within 12 consecutive months. Many of those members never received any communication about the change and their points expired worthless. [26]

Brands

IHG Group has several brands including:[27]

Luxury

Upscale

Mainstream

Notable properties

The Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport is the former terminal building of Liverpool Speke Airport, constructed in the 1930s and used until 1986. Its notable art deco features led to its listing as a heritage building, and subsequent adaption as a hotel.[28]

The hotel in the Wilshire Grand Tower in downtown Los Angeles is the largest InterContinental in the Americas and the tallest building in Los Angeles.[29]

The InterContinental Davos is well known for its modern architecture.[30]

The Hotel International Prague was owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group, until being sold in 2014.[31]

IHG Rewards Club

Main article: IHG Rewards Club

IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty programme for over 5,600 hotels under the IHG umbrella. There are three elite tiers of IHG rewards club which include Gold Elite, Platinum Elite and Spire Elite.[32]

References

  1. ^ "IHG global presence". InterContinental Hotels Group PLC. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Our Board". InterContinental Hotels Group PLC.
  3. ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2018" (PDF). InterContinental Hotels Group PLC. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  4. ^ "InterContinental Hotels Group PLC ADS". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Profile:InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG)". Reuters. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d "Our History". Intercontinental Hotels Group. ihgplc.com. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Bass / Six Continents". Ad Brands. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Pan Am Unit Sale". The New York Times. 11 September 1981. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Tokyo Group to Buy Hotel Chain for $2.27 Billion: British Owner Accepts Seibu Saison's Cash Offer for Inter-Continental". LA Times. 1 October 1988. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Our History". Mitchells & Butlers. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  11. ^ Nick Golding (12 January 2005). "Britvic IPO sees staff get £750 shares each". Employee Benefits Group. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "InterContinental refuses a takeover bid worth $10bn, claims report". International Travel News. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  13. ^ "Holiday Inn hotel chain reveals malware attack that stole credit card info". USA Today. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  14. ^ a b c [1]
  15. ^ "Map of Dunwoody". City of Dunwoody. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "Privatized Army Lodging". Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  17. ^ "Annual Report 2012" (PDF). IHG. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
  18. ^ "IHG overview". InterContinental Hotels Group. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  19. ^ Branigan, Tania (23 May 2013). "Tibetan activists launch boycott of InterContinental over hotel plans". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  20. ^ George, Sara (31 January 2014). "Investigation into the hotel online booking sector". webarchive.NationalArchives.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Osborne, Charlie. "InterContinental data breach expands from 12 to 1,200 hotels". ZDNet.com. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  22. ^ "Hotels chains 'breaching VAT rules'". The Telegraph. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  23. ^ Inman, Phillip (10 November 2017). "Sadiq Khan: Holiday Inn owner has broken vow to pay living wage". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  24. ^ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-15/eggs-blamed-for-salmonella-at-adelaide-intercontinental/7736492
  25. ^ https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/video-sparks-hygiene-concerns-in-beijing-hotels
  26. ^ https://loyaltylobby.com/2017/04/06/reminder-ihg-rewards-club-points-expire-if-no-activity-for-12-months/
  27. ^ "Our brands". InterContinental Hotels Group. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  28. ^ "Recent History and Current Developments". Fola.org.uk. Friends of Liverpool Airport. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ Vincent, Roger (23 September 2014). "Hotel under construction in downtown L.A. will be an InterContinental". Los Angeles Times.
  30. ^ "The building they said they couldn't build". Phaidon. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  31. ^ Crous, André (5 October 2014). "Hotel International Prague: A red-letter hotel". The Prague Post. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ "IHG Credit Card UK – Which IHG Rewards Card to Choose?". Thrifty Points. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
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