InterContinental Hotels Group fast-tracks India expansion with 14 hotels

When you rebrand an existing hotel you have some challenges, said Pascal Gauvin, IHG Managing Director

In a country where building a new hotel could take over four years, a flag change cuts the gestation period to a few months. British hospitality firm Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) has fast-tracked its growth plans in India by making the single biggest flag change (rebranding a hotel taken over from a rival brand) in the domestic hospitality sector, a move that will expand its room strength by 50 per cent to 9,000 in just about a year.

SAMHI, the Indian hospitality firm with multiple assets, decided to partner with IHG to convert its 14 hotels into the Holiday Inn