Despite the current economic conditions impacting hotel development in the hospitality industry, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [Lon: IHG; NYSE: IHG (ADRs)], the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, signed almost one hotel a day and opened more than one hotel a day globally in the first half of 2009, with the bulk being in the Americas region. Holiday Inn® and Holiday Inn Express® led the growth by IHG's brands in the Americas in part due to the ongoing Holiday Inn relaunch that is showing improvements in guest satisfaction and RevPAR outperformance of five percent.

During the first half of the year, IHG signed 130 license agreements totaling more than 15,000 rooms in the Americas. As for openings, the company continued growing in the region by adding 204 hotels (21,072 rooms) to its system with Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express contributing a combined total of 141 hotels with more than 12,400 rooms. New Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels have opened throughout the Americas region with properties in markets such as Memphis, Tenn.; Tampa, Fla.; Denver, Colo.; Monterrey, Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; and Vancouver, Canada.

"Although the credit markets have not made it easy, our signings in the Americas are continuing which indicates owner confidence in IHG and our brands, particularly with the relaunch of Holiday Inn," said Jim Anhut, Chief Development Officer, the Americas, IHG. "We are still opening hotels in our development pipeline across the Americas and around the world. We are on target to open around 400 hotels this year globally."

In addition, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Holiday Inn Club VacationsTM continued to expand across the region.

• Crowne Plaza opened 13 hotels (3,792 rooms) and signed an additional seven hotels (1,663 rooms) in the Americas. The brand continues a resurgence that will result in 40 percent to 50 percent of today's Crowne Plaza portfolio being completely renovated by the end of the year.
• Hotel Indigo recently opened its West Coast flagship property and the first LEED-certified hotel in San Diego. During the first half of 2009, the brand opened six hotels (586 rooms) and signed an additional six properties (690 rooms).
• IHG's extended-stay brands, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, opened a combined total of 39 hotels with nearly 3,800 rooms in the Americas. Candlewood Suites recently opened the industry's first midscale extended-stay property in New York-Times Square.
• Holiday Inn Club Vacations, IHG's timeshare portfolio, added five locations in the first half of the year and now has resorts in Orlando and Panama City, Fla.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Gatlinburg, Tenn.; Brownsville, Vt.; and Lake Geneva, Wis.

With the new license agreements and an already healthy pipeline, IHG continued to make strides in hotel development in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America, where Brazil continues to be a robust market. The company's pipeline in the Americas region has reached 1,250 hotels totaling 132,477 rooms.

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 4,300 hotels and almost 630,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognized 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 program, Priority Club® Rewards with 44 million members worldwide.

Stephen Boggs
Senior Corporate Communications Manager
770-604-5793
IHG