InterContinental Hotels Group is a leading international hospitality group, with more than 3,500 hotels and 534,000 visitor rooms across nearly 100 countries and territories. Every year more than 120 million people find a reception at one of its lodging brands. No other name in the hospitality business is as one and the same with quality, comfort, value and service as IHG.
InterContinental Hotels Group started executing since 1952 as a subsidiary of Pan American Airlines, which sold the business in the 1980s. In 1988, the U.K.-based brewer Bass purchased Holiday Inn International, which was founded and started franchising in the 1950s. The company has since sold the brewery and started to fully get into the franchise business and gradually seven brands came under the InterContinental group. These popular hotel brands take in Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, Candlewood Suites, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Hotel Indigo, and Staybridge Suites. All these brands mainly fall under the luxury range and offer state-of-the-art facilities and services. They are ideal for high end tourists, celebrities and corporate executives.
The head office of the Hotels Group is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Franchise Review Written By: heartdea
I am the owner of an InterContinental Hotels Group franchise, mine is a Holiday Inn. I am five years into my ten year franchise contract. Now things are running very smoothly, but in the beginning I really appreciated how helpful the home office was in helping me get successful quickly. A hotel is a complex franchise to run and my initial investment was pretty large, so I needed it to become successful quickly. Luckily the Holiday Inn image and brand is strong and I had guests even on my opening day.
I have learned a lot about managing people over the past five years. The hotel industry in general has a very high turnover rate. If jobs are open often and much of your staff is new it is hard to give your guests a good experience. I have a great and stable management team now, having the right people on my team has helped me stay successful.
My business background was very important as I immediately had to negotiate complex contracts with vendors and other business partners. My franchise has been well worth it but it took a lot of hard work to be as successful as I am today.
