The first Holiday Inn Express at London Heathrow Terminal 5, opening in 2011, will be the largest Holiday Inn Express in Europe under a franchise agreement signed today by IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) and Crimson Hotels Group.

Work has started on the property which will have 300 guest rooms, including eight accessible rooms.

The first phase of 125 rooms is set to be completed in May 2010. Once the hotel is fully opened in May 2011 it will be the largest Holiday Inn Express in Europe.

The contemporary bedrooms will incorporate flatscreen LCD TVs. Snacks and complimentary continental breakfast will be available in the hotel's informal café. Business guests will benefit from the hotel's four well-equipped meeting rooms, providing space for up to 80 delegates.

The airport's shuttle service will be available to guests throughout the day for transfers to and from Heathrow's newest terminal. The hotel's proximity to the M25, M4 and M40 motorways will also provide easy access to the area's attractions, including Royal Windsor and Legoland, as well as the Slough Trading Estate, Europe's largest privately owned business park.

Kirk Kinsell, president Europe, Middle East and Africa, IHG, said: "We're in the middle of the hospitality industry's biggest ever relaunch with more than 3,200 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world being relaunched by the end of 2010. We have more than 1,000 Holiday Inn hotels in the pipeline. It's great news that we will have Europe's biggest Holiday Inn Express at the world's busiest international airport open in twelve months' time."

Aly Kassam, finance director for Crimson Hotels Group, said: "The hotel will offer business and leisure travellers a great night's sleep and all the facilities they need right by London Heathrow Terminal 5. Once it's finished the hotel will employ around 150 people from the local community."

The Holiday Inn Express London Heathrow Terminal 5 is being redeveloped from an existing 128-room hotel. The redevelopment will include a complete redesign of the building's exterior and will incorporate the contemporary look and feel of the new Holiday Inn Express brand.

About Crimson Hotels

Crimson Hotels Group already own and operate two IHG branded hotels; the Holiday Inn Woking and the Crowne Plaza Gatwick Crawley. They also have other properties in the UK, UAE and Portugal.

About the Holiday Inn brand relaunch

The £620m relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand family (Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express) will bring improved consistency and service levels, as well as a more contemporary brand image and identity, to over 3,200 hotels worldwide. The global relaunch was announced in October 2007 and is set to be completed by the end of 2010.

About IHG

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 4,200 hotels and more than 620,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®, and also manages the world’s largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards with 43 million members worldwide.

IHG has nearly 1,700 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create around 140,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

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