Substantial Growth for IHG in the Americas and Asia Pacific

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has experienced substantial growth in the Americas region over the past 30 months, increasing its number of hotels from 13 to 21. InterContinental's growth has been a global affair as well with the brand signing 12 hotels and more than 4,400 rooms within the first six months of 2008, with four of these hotels in the Americas region. The current global pipeline now stands at 21,284 rooms (67 hotels) - tripling the brand's size from 2006 when it celebrated its 60 years of history.

In the Americas region earlier this month, InterContinental announced the opening of three new hotels within a ten-day period, furthering an already aggressive year of growth. The hotels which opened in September 2008 include the 556-room InterContinental Chicago O'Hare in the U.S., the 174-room Presidente InterContinental Puebla in Mexico and the 110-room Real InterContinental Hotel & Club Tower in Costa Rica. The brand is also getting ready to open its first resort property in the U.S. - the 292-room InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona, in November 2008.

In addition to these three openings, the brand continues to grow its global development pipeline with the signing of two InterContinental hotels in the U.S. East Coast – the planned InterContinental New York Times Square and InterContinental Atlanta Midtown. Both New York City and Atlanta will join other major U.S. cities such as Chicago and San Francisco, and international cities such as Toronto, Tokyo and Johannesburg in offering more than one InterContinental location within the destination.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts continues its expansion in South America with the signing of an agreement for a new 265-room InterContinental Hotels & Resorts property in Maracaibo, Venezuela. InterContinental Maracaibo will join the Crowne Plaza Maruma Maracaibo Casino & Convention Center as the second IHG brand in the city and will also become the fourth InterContinental Hotels & Resorts property in the country.

"The growing presence of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in the Americas, particularly the U.S., further strengthens the brand's portfolio and exposes the brand to new guests who are looking for the authentic and enriching experiences that our hotels facilitate," said Tom Murray, COO, the Americas, IHG. "We will continue to look at developing the InterContinental brand in key markets throughout the Americas and we will look for opportunities that allow us to have multiple presence in the key markets."

During the first six months of 2008, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts grew its presence in the western U.S. region with the opening of the InterContinental San Francisco and InterContinental The Clement Monterey.

In Asia Pacific, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is also enjoying unprecedented growth. Thirty-two new InterContinental hotels (more than 11,000 rooms) will open in the next three years. The brand already has a portfolio of 36 hotels across Asia Pacific. In Greater China, there are 10 InterContinental hotels and resorts with a development pipeline of 14 hotels. The latest opening was the InterContinental Beijing Beichen. New hotels to open soon include InterContinental Qingdao and InterContinental Dalian.

In Vietnam, IHG most recently celebrated the opening of InterContinental Hanoi Westlake, which marked the brand’s entry into Vietnam. IHG is today the fastest growing international operator in Vietnam, with a pipeline of seven hotels including three InterContinental hotels and resorts - InterContinental Hanoi Landmark, InterContinental Asiana Saigon and InterContinental Danang Resort.

The InterContinental Alpensia Pyeong Chang Resort in South Korea was recently signed while in Japan, two ANA resorts in Okinawa will be rebranded in 2009 as ANA InterContinental Manza Beach Resort and ANA InterContinental Ishigaki Resort. In Australia, the InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto will open in December 2008 while an InterContinental is slated to open in Fiji in mid 2009.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has a global portfolio of 154 hotels (52,428 rooms) with 67 hotels in the pipeline.

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