INTER-CONTINENTAL, HOLIDAY INN PICKS UP TOP HONOURS COURTESY OF BUSINESS TRAVELLERS

Six Continents Hotels’ CEO collects three Business Traveller Reader Poll awards from Princess Royal

Inter-Continental has been named the best hotel chain both in the Middle East, and Europe, while Holiday Inn has been selected as the best international mid-market hotel chain, by readers of one of Europe’s leading business travel magazines.

The three awards were presented by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, to Tom Oliver, Chairman and CEO of Six Continents Hotels, at the 2001 Business Traveller Reader Poll Awards ceremony in London.

The Business Traveller annual Reader Poll is the only travel survey conducted by a UK-based publication which is independent, authoritative and which complies with the rules laid out by the Market Research Society.

The 2001 poll revealed that more than eight in ten of Business Traveller readers use the internet to plan travel, while six in ten use it for booking travel.

“A large percentage of our business comes from business travellers, so these awards mean a great deal to us because both Inter-Continental and Holiday Inn customers are telling us that we are giving them the best service available,” said Denis Johnson, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Six Continents Hotels, Middle East and Africa.

“Our intention now will be to look for ways to stay ahead of the increasing demands of business travellers in the quality of service and amenities we provide both at our existing hotels, and the many new properties under development across the region.”

Six Continents Hotels currently operates 47 Inter-Continental properties in the Middle East and Africa, with three others currently under development in Egypt, and one each in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Ghana.

The region now has 63 Holiday Inn hotels and resorts following the opening of new properties in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, Hafr Al Batin in Saudi Arabia, and Dubai in recent months. The first of four new Holiday Inn hotels in Saudi Arabia opens at Al Khobar later this month, while four other new Holiday Inn properties are also under development in Egypt, along with others in Qatar, Kuwait, Tunisia and Nigeria.