IHG Hotel Brands Entering New Locations, Growing at Record Pace Across Asia Pacific

IHG Hotel Brands Entering New Locations, Growing at Record Pace Across Asia Pacific

October 12, 2007

-- InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday
Inn Express 
   expansion includes entry into new and emerging
destinations

-- 80 new hotels signed during past year in Asia Pacific,
averaging one hotel 
   every five days

-- Growth supported by continuous investments in gaining
customer insight, 
   ensuring quality and effectively driving hotel returns

    HONG KONG, Oct. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ ¨C- IHG's
(InterContinental Hotels Group's) portfolio of hotel brands
has been growing at record pace across Asia Pacific during
the past year, accompanied by an equally strong growth in
the group's regional support infrastructure. All four of
the IHG brands currently present in this part of the world
¨C InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday
Inn Express ¨C continue to outperform. The current growth
momentum is especially strong in the key markets of the
People's Republic of China (PRC), Japan and India. Some of
the brands within the IHG portfolio are also set to appear
for the first time in strategic new locations such as Ho
Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Maldives, Bangalore, Melbourne and
Adelaide. 

    The group has a development pipeline of more than 120
hotels and 40,000 rooms across Asia Pacific. Over 80 hotels
have been signed over the past one year period ¨C an average
of one signing every five days. More than two thirds of
these signings are for new-build hotels with the rest being
conversions of existing properties. Close to 70% of the
hotels will be located in the PRC, Japan and India, in line
with IHG's global strategy of building the hotel industry's
strongest operating system, focused on the biggest markets
and segments where scale really counts. 

    IHG has also been growing its support capability in key
regional locations. Commented Tony South, acting chief
executive of IHG Asia Pacific, "As we continue to grow
our network of hotels across the region, we need to put
equal emphasis on ensuring the long-term success of the
hotels, which in turn ensures better returns for our
owners. As a result, we have doubled the number of
employees based in our corporate offices in Shanghai,
Sydney, Singapore, New Delhi and Tokyo during the past two
years. This includes beefing up critical functions such as
talent development, hotel openings, design and engineering,
brand management, sales and revenue management." 

    He added that in order to address the huge demand for
trained hospitality talent across the region, the company
has launched a number of industry-leading talent
development initiatives during the past twelve months. Key
among these was the launch of the IHG Academy in Shanghai
last year. Designed to identify and groom staff for IHG's
hotels and develop the future talent pool, the IHG Academy
was recently expanded to another three cities across the
PRC. IHG partners with leading institutions in each of
these locations to help deliver the programs. 

    In another industry first, Crowne Plaza Hotels &
Resorts, the group's upscale brand for meetings and
interactions, recently introduced a unique accreditation
program for its meeting directors, in partnership with
Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management. This
program sets a new benchmark for meeting services providers
and provides enhanced career development opportunities for
Crowne Plaza employees. 

    At the same time, IHG has invested heavily in research
aimed at garnering customer insight to help take their
brands in the right direction. The company conducted one of
the largest ever hotel research studies, talking to 15,000
consumers across the globe. The insight gained is now being
used to help differentiate the company's brands through
innovation, communication and an improved booking
experience. 

    IHG's Priority Club Rewards (PCR), the biggest hotel
loyalty program in the world with 33 million members, has
been growing particularly well in Asia Pacific. The number
of regional PCR members has tripled to about three million
over the last 3 years, averaging growth of about 39%
annually. 

    Globally, IHG is opening one hotel a day around the
world and signing two hotels a day. The company now has a
total of more than 1,400 hotels (over 188,000 rooms) in the
development pipeline and expects to exceed its target of
50,000-60,000 net and organic room additions by the end of
2008.
 
    Key brand highlights:

    InterContinental Hotels & Resorts

     -- Luxury hotel brand with 34 hotels (12,000 rooms) in
Asia Pacific. 24 
        hotels (8,400 rooms) in development pipeline.

     -- Will enter several key emerging destinations for
the first time, 
        including Melbourne, Australia; Ho Chi Minh City
and Hanoi, Vietnam; 
        and Qingdao, PRC. 

     -- The only luxury hotel brand to have two hotels
offering direct access 
        to the 2008 Olympics ¨C InterContinental Beijing
North is steps from 
        the Olympic stadium and InterContinental Qingdao is
located within  
        the Olympic sailing venue.

     -- Two co-branded hotels launched April 2007 in Tokyo,
Japan, as a  
        resultof the hotel operating joint venture with All
Nippon Airways  
        (ANA). Two more ANA InterContinental resorts to be
launched in  
        Okinawa in 2008 and 2009.

     -- Additional InterContinental Resorts will launch in
Hua Hin, Thailand; 
        Huizhou and Sanya, PRC; Danang, Vietnam; and
Okinawa, Japan. These  
        new launches will join existing InterContinental
resorts in Bali and 
        French Polynesia.

    Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts

     -- Upscale hotel brand with 51 hotels (16,500 rooms)
open across Asia 
        Pacific; 39 hotels (14,000 rooms) in development
pipeline. 

     -- Focuses on business meetings and social
interactions and is the 
        fastest growing hotel brand in its segment in Asia
Pacific and the 
        US. 

     -- In PRC, more than 40% of the hotels in the IHG
development pipeline 
        will be Crowne Plaza hotels.

     -- Six ANA Crowne Plaza co-branded hotels to launch
later this year in 
        Japan as part of the IHG ANA hotel operating joint
venture. Hotels  
        arelocated across the country, in Narita, Kanazawa,
Toyama, 
        Hiroshima, Okinawa and Chitose. 

     -- Crowne Plaza hotels will enter markets such as
Hanoi, Vietnam; 
        Hangzhou, PRC; and Adelaide, Australia for the
first time. The brand 
        is also making a re-entry into Singapore with
Crowne Plaza Changi 
        Airport opening in April 2008.

    Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts

     -- World's most recognized hotel brand. 89 hotels
(23,850 rooms) in Asia 
        Pacific and 40 hotels (12,000 rooms) in the
development pipeline.

     -- The leading mid-scale hotel brand in Asia Pacific
and China. Voted 
        best mid-market hotel brand in Asia Pacific and the
world by readers 
        of Business Traveller Asia Pacific every year from
2001-2007.

     -- Expected to grow significantly in India, with six
of 10 upcoming IHG 
        hotels earmarked as Holiday Inns.

     -- Maldives, Bangalore and Pattaya will see the
opening of their first 
        Holiday Inn hotels. 
 
    Holiday Inn Express

     -- Ten Holiday Inn Express hotels (3,000 rooms)
currently operating in 
        China, Hong Kong and Japan and close to 20 hotels
in the development 
        pipeline.

     -- One of the fastest growing hotel brands in the
hotel industry, with 
        one hotel opening every four days somewhere in the
world.

     -- The brand offers a smart, innovative and refreshing
hotel choice for 
        business and leisure, with relevant facilities,
focused services, 
        consistent quality and stylish design. It is
positioned between full 
        service four star hotels and budget hotels.

     -- The Holiday Inn Express China franchising program
was launched in  
        2007,targeted at hotel owners who share IHG's
vision for the brand 
        and possess the necessary skills and resources to
operate a portfolio 
        of hotels with IHG's support.

     -- Holiday Inn Express plans to expand its Asia
Pacific presence to 
        Singapore and Bangkok.

    Notes to Editors: 

    About IHG

    InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) of the United
Kingdom (LON:IHG, NYSE: IHG) is the world's largest hotel
group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or
franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 3,800 hotels
and more than 564,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries
and territories around the world. IHG owns a portfolio of
well recognized and respected hotel brands including
InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza(R)
Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts,
Holiday Inn Express(R), Staybridge Suites(R), Candlewood
Suites(R) and Hotel Indigo(R), and also manages the world's
largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club(R) Rewards with
over 33 million members worldwide.

    The company pioneered the travel industry's first
collaborative response to environmental issues as founder
of the International Hotels and Environment Initiative
(IHEI). The IHEI formed the foundations of the Tourism
Partnership launched by the International Business Leaders
Forum in 2004, of which IHG is still a member today. The
environment and local communities remain at the heart of
IHG's global corporate responsibility focus.

    IHG offers information and online reservations for all
its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com and information for
the Priority Club Rewards program at
http://www.priorityclub.com .

    For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press
Office at http://www.ihg.com/media .


    For more information, please contact:

     Sharona Tao	 			
     IHG Greater China			
     Phone: [phone]			
     Email: [e-mail]