IHG's Ambitious Plans for Greater China

IHG Hotels & Resorts said the are pursuing an ambitious expansion plan in Greater China that explores popular and emerging destinations. IHG currently has more than 1,000 hotels operating or under the pipeline. This year they will continue to expand their footprint in Greater China, covering more than 200 cities. In their Luxury & Lifestyle brands segment, Regent received a brand remodeling plan. As we recently covered the Regent Hong Kong will return and their second Shanghai hotel, Regent Shanghai on the Bund, will open its doors int eh second half of this year. IHG’s InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand will continue to expand, highlighting the newly upgraded InterContinental Shanghai Harbour City and the upcoming InterContinental Shenzhen WECC. For their Kimpton brand, the Shanghai Kimpton Qiantan is scheduled to open in the second half of this year. IHG also said Zhejiang Province will welcome three Hotel Indigo properties this year and in Guangzhou, the Hotel Indigo Guangzhou Haixinsha will open its doors this summer. Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts is capitalizing on the rise of ‘bleisure’. This year the brand will focus on openings in popular tourist cities such as Hangzhou and Xi’an as well as key cities in the Greater Bay Area such as Jiangmen and Guangdong. The upgraded Hualuxe Hotels and Resorts 2.0 will open hotels in Sanya, Handan and other popular destinations. The voco Guangzhou Shifu will further that brand, opening later this year. IHG said their newly rebranded Even Hotels is accelerating its Greater China network this year. The Even Hotel Suzhou Grand Canal recently opened its doors and additional hotels will continue opening in first-tier cities and the Greater Bay Area. Holiday Inn will have new openings in popular cities and destinations such as Sanya, Beihai, Xi’an and Chengdu while Holiday Inn Express will accelerate its reach to lower tier cities. Openings from the brand in 2023 will cover more than 15 provinces and municipalities.

Hilton’s upscale focused service brand, Hilton Garden Inn, announced the opening of its fiftieth property in Greater China. Hilton Garden Inn Beijing Haidian Daoxiang Lake marks the brand’s first hotel in the Chinese capital. The brand is expected to triple its footprint in the coming years, welcoming 900,000 guests through its doors last year. Hilton also plans to ramp up expansion of Hilton Garden Inn across Asia Pacific, including Thailand and Australia. In Asia Pacific there are 65 Hilton Garden Inn properties in operation and over 100 in the pipeline. More than 20 hotels are set to open across the region this year, including in Da Nang, Vietnam; Shanghai, China; Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China; and Busselton, Australia.

LHN Group announced its launched Orchard’s largest co-living residence. Coliwoo Orchard is a 22 story property that houses a total of 411 keys across 135 units. For the Singapore brand group, this is the second largest Coliwoo property to date after Coliwoo Boon Lay with 437 keys. The announcement follows seven other launches by Coliwoo in 2022, across its Residence and Hotel portfolios. With additional properties currently in the pipeline, it is expected to bring Coliwoo’s total keys to around 2,500 by the end of 2023.

Brisbane’s $3.6 billion Queen’s Wharf Brisbane resort and casino will officially open before Christmas. This was announced on the site after the final span of the 320 meter long Neville Bonner Bridge from South Bank was put in place. The bridge will be completed by July or August but won’t open until most of the resort is finished. Star Entertainment Group expects the bridge to handle around 10,000 people per day. Queen’s Wharf Brisbane is being built by Destination Brisbane Consortium, a joint venture led by Star Entertainment Group with Hong Kong partners Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium.

The new Manly Pacific MGallery Collection in the Sydney area of Australia has emerged from a two year extreme makeover, complete with a new façade, 213 redesigned rooms, a rooftop pool and bar, a sundeck with an infrared sauna and a reimagined look and feel. The hotel on Manly Beach was previously Novotel Manly before the complete refurbishment and upgrade from the mid-level Accor group hotel to a boutique-inspired MGallery Collection. The 213 rooms include nine bespoke ocean-facing coastal suites offering views of the Pacific Ocean from a private balcony. The Sun Lounger rooms on level 2 offer 100sqm of outdoor terraces. There is also the US$2,000 a night Infinity Residences on the second floor with a large private terrace overlooking the ocean. Manly Pacific partnered up with local cryotherapy centre, CRYO Northern Beaches. Three minutes of being in a chamber at minus 120 degrees Celsius may be just what the doctor ordered. The new Manly Pacific is home to three food and beverage venues.

Shangri-La Group unveiled Jen Shenzhen Qianhai by Shangri-La. This is the group’s ninth Jen property globally, strategically situated at the forefront of Shenzhen’s new CBD, located within the Qianhai Kerry Centre. The new integrated development features offices, commercials, hotel and apartments, all linked by a sky corridor and outdoor gardens. The hotel features new room concepts, modern Asian food offerings, wellness, convivial co-working spaces and thought-provoking programming. The hotel has 369 guestrooms. The Commons is a shared pantry self-service concept located on each guestroom floor. There are connecting rooms and suites and Crash Pads, the ideal solution for short shays and impromptu plans. There are also themed rooms featuring karaoke and arcade and board games. Jen Active is set across four floors and includes two heated swimming pools, a 2,400 square meter gym and a juice bar. Jen Society is a modern urban club with a co-working lounge, private offices and meeting spaces. The opening so far includes some guestrooms, a couple of restaurants and Jen Active with the rest of the facilities coming on line in the next few months.

Centara Hotels & Resorts will be opening Centara Ubon tomorrow. The 160 room hotel is in Ubon Ratchathani, the hub of southern Isaan in Thailand, a 12 minute car ride from Ubon Ratchathani International Airport. The guestrooms range in size from 29 to 47 square meters. There are Premium Deluxe Suites that are fully furnished with a separate living area and private balcony. This opening follows the opening of Centara Korot in October of last year.

Anantara announced the new extra-private pool villas at Anantara Iko Mauritius Resort & Villas. Eight luxury pool villas, two with two bedrooms and six with four bedrooms, were announced. The 208 sqm Two Bedroom Pool Villas have direct water access at all times. The 330 sqm Four Bedroom Pool Villas can accommodate even the largest multi-generational families. The new villas come with a host of exclusive amenities including in-villa check-in, private butler services catering to every need. Holidaymakers can enjoy poolside meals with a private chef as well as in-villa wellness experiences ranging from yoga and meditation to tai chi and stretching.

Personnel Move

TFE Hotels announced Emma Soutter had been appointed Regional GM for NSW and ACT with oversight across 22 TFE properties. Emma most recently was at Accor Apartments and Realty as Regional GM for Northern New South Wales, New Zealand and the Gold Coast. Warwick Kahl joined TFE as Regional GM for QLD, New Zealand, WA & NT. Warwick joins TFE Hotels from Accor where he was most recently at Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort, overseeing a 400 room resort and 2000 seat convention center, the largest north of Brisbane. Tish Nyar has been elevated to Senior Director of Operations ANZ with responsibility for 51 properties in the TFE portfolio.