Growth in the limited service segment is a trend that the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) aims to capitalise on. It signed today, November 9, 2010, a management agreement for the largest Holiday Inn Express hotel in Southeast Asia with RB Capital Hotels, a Singapore-based property and real estate developer.
Opening in late 2013, the property will be located near the Singapore River and various leisure attractions, and will feature between 460 and 500 rooms. It will be the second Holiday Inn Express in a high-value area in the Lion City, identified as Orchard Road.
Jan Smits, managing director, IHG Asia Australasia, recently told Business Traveller that the product "appealed to a market that was location driven; wanted to be within walking distance of good dining options; and didn't want to pay for what they weren't going to use".
He added: "And limited doesn't mean cheap – what we offer is a very functional room as well as free internet [access] and breakfast."
The offshoot of IHG's popular Holiday Inn brand was launched in 1992, and has since, Smits said, "grown very quickly". He predicted that IHG would see the most movement in this tier from next year onwards. Currently, the Holiday Inn Express pipeline comprises 37 projects in the region, with a hotel near Siam Square in Bangkok set to be the first to open at the end of this year.
Four Holiday Inn Express hotels in India have also been signed up, with these expected to come online in three to five years.
There are 2,101 of these hotels operating globally.
For more details on the brand, visit www.hiexpress.com
Margie T Logarta
