Intercontinental Hotels Group has launched Even Hotels in the United States, a new offering which the group claims is “the first mainstream hotel brand focused on wellness”.
According to IHG the new brand “uniquely provides solutions for all aspects of travellers’ wellness needs in the areas of exercise, food, work and rest”.
The brand will focus around four key areas – Exercise, Eat, Work and Rest. Rooms will be designed to allow guests to workout using “multi-functional room amenities”, including coat racks that double as pull up bars, and properties will offer “best in class” gyms.
Restaurants and cafes will focus on “fresh, fit and energising meals”, and free flavoured water and mini smoothies will be available to guests. Rooms will feature wifi, multimedia ports and “ample desk space”, as well as hypoallergenic linens, “powerful showerheads”, LED dimmers and antibacterial wipes.
The group says it will invest US$150 million in the brand over the next three years, and will own and manage “the first several Even Hotels in key markets where the brand’s guests travel and live, then look to strong existing owner relationships to accelerate growth through IHG’s franchise model”.
The first location for the brand is set to be unveiled in the second quarter of this year, with the first opening in early 2013, and IHG says it expects to sign contracts for 100 Even hotels within the next five years.
IHG says the new brand was the result of “extensive customer research that tells us that guests are frustrated from staying in hotels that do not meet their entire lifestyle and wellness needs”.
The launch of Even Hotels in the US comes ahead of the expected unveiling of a brand designed especially for the Chinese traveller (see online news October 14, 2011).
For more information visit evenhotels.com, ihg.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
