ATLANTA, Sept. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/
-- IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) today
revealed the name of its new high-quality midscale brand,
avid™ hotels, alongside a brand
logo and renderings of the hotel exterior, public space and guest
rooms. First introduced to owners at the IHG Americas Conference in
June, avid hotels is franchise ready beginning today,
officially marking the start of licensing in the U.S. for this
much-anticipated new brand.
More than 150 owners have already expressed interest in the
brand demonstrating the strong demand and great potential for
avid hotels in this market segment. IHG expects the
first avid hotels locations to begin construction in
early 2018, and the first hotel is anticipated to open in early
2019.
Keith Barr, Chief Executive
Officer, IHG, said: "We built our Holiday Inn
Express® brand into a hugely successful, leading
midscale brand. Now, with the introduction of avid
hotels, we're set to add another one and extend IHG's
leadership position in this segment. With 14 million potential
customers looking for the type of hospitality avid
hotels will offer, this new hotel brand represents a
significant growth opportunity for IHG and our family of
owners."
This brand is designed for travelers who want a hotel stay that
finally meets their expectations for the type of hospitality they
value most – the basics done exceptionally well – at a price point
expected to be about $10-15 less than
IHG's industry-leading Holiday Inn Express brand.
Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive
Officer, IHG, The Americas, added: "Our extensive consumer
research and conversations with owners identified a clear
opportunity to reach an important set of business and leisure
travelers in a vastly underserved $20
billion segment of the U.S. midscale market. We applied
our insights, expertise and scale to deliver an experience that
features modern and stylish designs, superior guest rooms and
public spaces and great service – all at an excellent value. I have
no doubt avid hotels will continue IHG's success in
delivering what our guests want, while driving superior returns for
our owners."
New brand features shared for the first time today:
- avid hotels logo illustrates the
brand's confident and modern design. In its confident and
refreshing colors of red and aqua, the logo features a signature
checkmark, which acts as a stamp of confidence that avid
hotels will deliver an unrivaled experience. This brand is
the first to launch using IHG's master brand mark – An
IHG® Hotel – in communications and building signage,
underlining its strength as part of one of the world's leading
hotel companies.
- Exterior and public space renderings for avid
hotels bring the brand experience to life. Setting the
brand apart, the modern exterior hotel design includes an open and
airy retail-like entry, a canopy and uses the
stairwell as an eye catching red architectural feature.
On the inside, guests will find vibrant, open public and work areas
and inviting communal spaces that allow guests to relax, work,
connect or eat. Hotels will offer a focused, high-quality,
complimentary breakfast and marketplace options made for guests on
the go. The entire hotel will be equipped with IHG
Connect® Wi-Fi with the fastest speed in the industry
and the ability for loyalty members to be automatically connected
for all future visits. Hotels will also leverage IHG's
state-of-the-art, cloud-based next generation reservation system,
and guests will benefit from the power of IHG® Rewards
Club at avid hotels.
- Guest room renderings highlight unique hotel
features. Rooms are constructed with sound reducing features
for a superior night's sleep, and the bathroom experience
re-energizes guests with a fresh and bright design. Each guest room
will also offer a dedicated workspace and ample open, easy-to-use
storage, as well as innovative in-room entertainment options that
allow guests to cast content from their smart devices to in-room
televisions.
In addition to creating the brand to delight guests, its design
and operating model was developed in collaboration with an owner
advisory board, ensuring that avid hotels are
efficient to build, operate and maintain. Hotels will be designed
for new build construction on an average lot size of approximately
1.5 acres, and all avid hotels will be built to lead
the industry in environmentally friendly and efficient design. The
prototype design features 95-100 keys with a minimum of three
stories.
Key elements of the initial owner offer include:
- Five percent royalty fee
- First 100 signed license agreements will be eligible for a two
percent fee discount in year one and one percent fee discount in
year two (2/1 royalty fee reduction)
To learn more, visit avidhotels.com and follow along at:
facebook.com/avidhotels/, twitter.com/avidhotel and
instagram.com/avidhotels/.
Notes to Editors:
IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG
(ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel
brands, including InterContinental® Hotels &
Resorts, Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel
Indigo®, EVEN® Hotels, HUALUXE® Hotels and
Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday
Inn®, Holiday Inn Express®, Holiday Inn Club
Vacations®, Holiday Inn Resort®, Staybridge Suites®
and Candlewood Suites®.
IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,200
hotels and nearly 780,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with
more than 1,500 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also
manages IHG® Rewards Club, our global loyalty programme,
which has more than 100 million enrolled
members.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding
company and is incorporated in Great
Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 350,000 people work across
IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.
Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and
reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG
Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihgplc.com/media
and follow us on social media at:
www.twitter.com/ihg, www.facebook.com/ihg and
www.youtube.com/ihgplc.
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SOURCE IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group)