InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has commenced a major expansion of its Holiday Inn Express brand in Southeast Asia, with the opening of the region’s first property in Bangkok.
The launch of the new Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam today (19 June 2012) is expected to be followed by the roll out of 12 more properties by 2014, across Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
“We’ve seen Holiday Inn Express grow exponentially over the last two decades into a well established brand in international markets. This points to strong demand for the brand from both our guests and investors,” said Jan Smits, CEO of IHG Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA).
“We’re confident that Holiday Inn Express will do very well in a region with popular leisure and business destinations and we’re thrilled to open our first Southeast Asian property right here in Bangkok.”
Located in the centre of the Thai capital, close to the MBK shopping centre and National Stadium skytrain station, the 300-room Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam will offer the brand’s core amenities such as free Wi-Fi and breakfast, as well as a business centre and restaurant.
“We’re very excited to work with IHG on the first Holiday Inn Express in Southeast Asia. The brand has a very innovative business model in this category and we’re confident that the hotel will be profitable,” said Sunny Bajaj, Managing Director of Amburaya Hotels and Resorts – developer of the new Bangkok property.
“This smart operations model allows us focus to meet the needs of today’s traveller by making sure the guest experience is memorable and that they are able to truly experience Bangkok, whilst we maximise the hotel’s potential for high returns.”
Holiday Inn Express has a global portfolio of 2,133 properties, including 40 in the Asia Pacific region. With a further 54 Asian hotels in the pipeline, including 12 in Southeast Asia, it is also IHG’s fastest-growing brand.
