Holiday Inn Express expands India footprint with launch in Gurugram

Team Udayavani, Sep 5, 2018, 5:52 PM IST

New Delhi: Global hospitality major Inter Continental Hotels Group (IHG) Tuesday launched the first Holiday Inn Express hotel in Gurgaon in partnership with hotel asset firm SAMHI.

Under IHG’s partnership with SAMHI for a portfolio of 14 Holiday Inn Express hotels, this property will be the first to open its doors to guests on September 15. 

The global hospitality chain and SAMHI had entered into a partnership in 2017 to rebrand the latter’s 14 hotels to Holiday Inn Express.

Commenting on the development, IHG SWA Regional V P Vivek Bhalla said: “Our growth in India is fuelled by the Holiday Inn brand family and this partnership underscores our commitment to grow our midscale offering in the country.”

“Holiday Inn Express is our fastest growing brand globally, and we see further opportunity in the South West Asia market to expand our footprint,” he said.

In similar vein, SAMHI MD & CEO Ashish Jakhanwala said the conversion and the rebranding exercise of SAMHI’s existing portfolio to the Holiday Inn Express brand is one of the largest in the hospitality industry.

“We strongly believe that a combination of strong locations, a vibrant product and the power of the brand Holiday Inn Express, will lead the way for the midscale hotel space in India,” he added.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,400 hotels and 810,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with nearly 1,800 hotels in its development pipeline.