IHG expands Middle East portfolio

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced four new signings across four brands last week including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo. Clarence Tan, Senior VP Development AMEA, IHG; Pascal Gauvin, COO AMEA, IHG; Faris Saeed, CEO, Diamond Developers; Omar Obeid, Hospitality Advisor, Diamond Developers Clarence Tan, Senior VP Development AMEA, IHG; Pascal Gauvin, COO AMEA, IHG; Faris Saeed, CEO, Diamond Developers; Omar Obeid, Hospitality Advisor, Diamond Developers The signings will see the hotel company grow its presence by about 600 rooms across the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over the next three to five years. Together with leading Diamond Developers, IHG will open the second Hotel Indigo in the UAE. Due to open in 2017, the 170-room Hotel Indigo Dubai The Sustainable City will be part of Dubai’s first sustainable integrated development. The hotel will be a Net Zero energy building, where 100 percent of its energy needs will be met by solar power. This will be the third Hotel Indigo in the Middle East, joining the recently signed Hotel Indigo Dubai Business Bay and Hotel Indigo Riyadh King Abdullah Financial District in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is set to launch the brand into the Middle East next year. IHG also continued its 30-year relationship with the Bukhamseen Group in Kuwait with a multi-deal signing. Under the management agreement between IHG and Al Baraka General Trading and Contracting Company, owned by Kuwaiti conglomerate Bukhamseen Holding Group, IHG will manage a new 120-room InterContinental hotel and 232-room Crowne Plaza hotel in Farwaniya, Kuwait; whilst the existing Crowne Plaza Kuwait will be converted into a 336-room Holiday Inn. In addition, a 20-year renewal was signed for the 189-room Holiday Inn Kuwait Salmiyah. In Saudi Arabia a franchise agreement was signed for the first Holiday Inn in Tabuk with DUR Hospitality Company (formerly Saudi Hotels and Resort Co or SHARACO). The 83-room Holiday Inn Tabuk is the first hotel to be developed under the master development agreement (MDA) inked between IHG and DUR Hospitality Company last year. sourced:traveldailymedia.com