InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) (LSE: IHG NYSE: IHG) is a multinational
company which operates several hotel brands. The largest hotel company by number
of rooms (537,500 as of March 2006 [1]), its headquarters are in Windsor just
outside Greater London and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
History
InterContinental Hotels Group can be traced back to 1777 when William Bass began
a brewery in Burton upon Trent. In 1876 their red triangle trademark was the
first registered in the United Kingdom.
In 1989 the British Government limited the number of pubs brewers could directly
own, so Bass began to grow their small line of hotels. In 1990 they purchased
Holiday Inn International from Kemmons Wilson, expanding themselves into North
America. In March 1998 they acquired the InterContinental brand, expanding into
the luxury market.
In 2000 the company sold its brewing assets (and the rights to the Bass name) to
the major Belgian brewer Interbrew for £2.3 billion and changed its named to Six
Continents plc. InterContinental was created in 2003 after the company – then
Six Continents Plc – split into two daughter companies: Mitchells and Butlers
plc to handle restaurant assets and InterContinental to focus on hotels and soft
drinks.
Britvic, the company's soft drinks division, was retained by IHG. It is the
second largest soft drinks manufacturer in the United Kingdom by volume. It owns
the Robinsons, Tango, Britvic, R Whites and J2O brands, and also has the
franchise for the Pepsi and 7UP brands in Great Britain. In December 2005, IHG
sold its interest in the company by an initial public offering.
InterContinental brands
Brands of IHG
An Uptown Houston Hotel Indigo.InterContinental
Crowne Plaza
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn Select
Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn Resorts and Holiday Inn SunSpree Resorts
Holiday Inn Express (known as "Express by Holiday Inn" outside North America)
Staybridge Suites
Candlewood Suites
Hotel Indigo
