IHG Announces Four New Openings, One New Signing of Holiday Inn Hotels in Central and South America

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) (LSE:IHG) (NYSE:IHG) (ADRs), the world’s largest hotel company by number of rooms and the one with the most experience in Central and South America, announced the opening of four new Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express properties throughout the region, as well as the signing of an additional new Holiday Inn in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The newly-opened properties – two in Brazil, one in Argentina and another in Honduras – all feature Holiday Inn’s new refreshed look and feel that are part of IHG’s ongoing $1 billion global relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand. The new look ensures consistency, an increased level of quality and service, and a new, more contemporary brand identity.

The Holiday Inn global brand relaunch was established to create a more contemporary brand image as part of the drive to increase quality and consistency across the global portfolio. The program focuses on arrival and welcome services, guestroom, and guest bath comfort. The more than 3,300 Holiday Inns around the globe are expected to have relaunched by the end of 2010.

Elements of the relaunch include redesigned brand signage; a new signature arrival, including new lighting, landscaping and design features, customized music and scent; a refreshed guest room, inclusive of new bedding that redefines the look and feel of each guest room, accompanied by enhanced bathroom features; and a new service promise (Stay Real), inclusive of a newly created position at each hotel – the Guest Experience Champion.

"The new properties are reflective of Holiday Inn’s new look and feel,” said Alvaro Diago, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Latin America and Caribbean Region for IHG. "In our region, as throughout the globe, the relaunch has been extremely successful and well received by owners and guests alike.”

The openings continue to further the presence of Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels, now represented in 18 countries and territories throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

The newly opened hotels include:

• Holiday Inn Manaus (Manaus, Brazil)
• Holiday Inn São Luís (Sao Luis do Maranhão, Brazil),
• Holiday Inn Express San Pedro Sula (San Pedro Sula, Honduras)
• Holiday Inn Express Rosario (Rosario, Argentina)

The Holiday Inn Buenos Aires Ezeiza – Airport will be the first Holiday Inn hotel in Argentina’s capital, complementing an existing Holiday Inn Express and InterContinental Hotel. The Holiday Inn Buenos Aires is scheduled to open mid-2011.

"Continuing the broad distribution of the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands is one of our chief goals,” continues Diago. "We are expanding both as a result of furthering relationships with existing owners, as well as establishing relationships with new ownership groups.”

During the first half of 2009 alone, IHG had more than US$175 million in combined totals for new property announcements throughout the region, which included property openings and properties under construction, a majority of which were Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels, and a number of which are expected to open during 2010.

IHG is the second largest hotel operator in Latin America and Caribbean, totaling 73 hotels in 20 countries and territories. No other international hotel company in Latin America and Caribbean has representation in as many countries, or the years of consistently operating in the region. 2010 marks IHG’s 64^th year operating in Latin America and Caribbean.

"The Holiday Inn brand is on a global roll,” concludes Diago, "and that fact is reflected within Latin America and Caribbean, as we continue to realize interest from a broad-base of investors throughout almost every country in the region.”

As a whole, IHG has more than 190 hotels in Mexico, Central and South America and Caribbean, and has been serving Latin America and Caribbean for over 60 years. IHG has hotels situated in nearly every key market throughout Latin America.

Notes to Editors:

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 4,400 hotels and more than 645,000 guest rooms in 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental^® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo^®, Crowne Plaza^® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn^® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express^®, Staybridge Suites^® and Candlewood Suites^® and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club^® Rewards with 48 million members worldwide.

IHG has 1,400 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create 140,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards program at www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press Office at www.ihg.com/media