No Result
View All Result
Eye of the Flyer
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
    • Credit Cards
    • Travel Rewards Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Cash Back Credit Cards
    • No Annual Fee Credit Cards
    • Small Business Credit Cards
    • 0% Intro APR Cards
    • Balance Transfer Cards
    • Bad or Poor Credit
    • No Credit
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
    • Credit Cards
    • Travel Rewards Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Cash Back Credit Cards
    • No Annual Fee Credit Cards
    • Small Business Credit Cards
    • 0% Intro APR Cards
    • Balance Transfer Cards
    • Bad or Poor Credit
    • No Credit
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result

IHG to Center on Its Non-Luxury Brands…

Chris Carley by Chris Carley
February 23, 2021
in News
4
The tower section of the Holiday Inn Fargo near West Acres shopping mall.

The tower section of the Holiday Inn Fargo near West Acres shopping mall.

Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Eye of the Flyer and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


To paraphrase The Sugarhill Gang, IHG has decided to focus on its mid-range hotels and motels — like Holiday Inns. (Which begs the question: How is this different from the status quo?)

Plus, hotel workers may receive their COVID-19 vaccinations sooner than originally expected.

Those were some of the day’s travel headlines that caught my eye. I thought you, too, may find them interesting.

Midscale Hotels Are the Future of IHG?

While IHG is the flag for InterContinental and, most recently, Kimpton and Hotel Indigo, Skift reports that the company will “focus on non-luxury brands.”

Considering that over three-quarters of its portfolio is made up of hotels such as Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites, etc., I thought they were already doing that.

A two bed guest room is seen at the Holiday Inn & Suites Anaheim hotel near Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Two-bed guest room at the Holiday Inn & Suites Anaheim (Read my review)

But it seems those brands will get more of corporate’s attention.

Cameron Sperance writes:

… [C]ompany leaders maintain their brands of hotels like Holiday Inn that typically lack full-service amenities like a sit-down restaurant will reignite the expansion trajectory. Hotel owners will prefer to run lower-cost, high-margin properties during the recovery, the thinking goes.

But as development interest returns, IHG leaders see a bulk of demand in its middle-market brands. Owners like this sector, as hotels are generally cheaper to build and operate at higher margins because they don’t have amenities like a spa or restaurant.

Only 4 percent stems from IHG’s luxury portfolio of brands like InterContinental.

I’m not bagging on IHG. I usually stay at its hotels several times a year. And most of those nights are spent at Holiday Inns or Holiday Inn Expresses. I know the company isn’t known for luxury — and I certainly don’t expect it when I stay at Holiday Inns (or similar properties).

Hearing IHG wanted to spend more time on those brands, though, raised an eyebrow. To me, it sort of sounded like Dominos rededicating itself to pizza over wings and pasta.

Elsewhere:

Hotel workers may soon receive a shot in the arm — literally.

Plane engine that caught fire on United Airlines flight over Denver has troubled history

Blockchain, QR codes and your phone: the race to build vaccine passports

Royal Caribbean CEO says new COVID-19 protocol will make cruising ‘safer than a walk down Main Street’

Amazon Lightning Deals

Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc. has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Eye of the Flyer and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Related

Tags: InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG)
Previous Post

Boeing 777 grounding visually explained, $50,000 fine for attacking flight attendant, UK Travel ban to end May 17th, Russia gives US ultimatum for Open Skies Treaty reversal

Next Post

Do Credit Card Rewards Programs Round Up or Down to the Nearest Dollar Spent? [A Rookie Wednesday Post]

Chris Carley

Chris Carley

Chris Carley is the owner, editor, and lead writer of Eye of the Flyer (formerly known as Rene's Points).

Next Post
A collage of credit cards.

Do Credit Card Rewards Programs Round Up or Down to the Nearest Dollar Spent? [A Rookie Wednesday Post]

Comments 4

  1. Pat says:
    3 years ago

    I always associated Holiday Inns with two types of travelers:
    1) leisure travelers on a slight budget
    2) non-executive business travelers

    Post-covid, I don’t expect there to be as many low-ranking business travelers. I don’t know why IHG thinks these are the customers to go after during the recovery.

    Maybe, they’re banking on leisure travelers opting to drive long-distance instead of flying. In which case, all their random hotels on the side of the interstate might become lucrative. That’s the only logic that makes sense.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      3 years ago

      Thanks for the comment. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s both people who drive as well as families who fly. Perhaps the families take a trip to a destination like a Disney or Universal — but don’t want to stay onsite because the parks are so darn expensive in the first place.

      Reply
  2. beachmouse says:
    3 years ago

    Even before the pandemic, there are often very good returns to be made on a thoughtful limited service hotel concept. Germany’s Motel One had crazy high margins for a ‘budget design’ concept where in most cities room rates were under 100 euros a night. Hilton’s Tru and IHG’s newer avid brand seemed pretty obvious attempts to americanize the Motel One concept.

    The latest generation of Holiday Inn Expresses also goes for a more modern look and remember that all of the big players largely franchise these days and it’s a lot easier for IHG to get investors to go for a ‘HIX n a box’ where you can pick from a number of stock floor plans IHG has for that brand and predictable and somewhat modest construction costs than it is to find someone willing to bite on a luxury property that might cost ten times as much to build or convert but won’t bring in ten times the profit as the HIX in a box.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      3 years ago

      I love the “HIX” term!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe

Subscribe To Our NewsletterJoin our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

➤ Search Eye of the Flyer

No Result
View All Result

GREAT Travel and Cash Back Card Offers!

Eye of the Flyer may receive a commission from the links below. See our Privacy Policy

See CardRatings’ Top Credit Cards for This Month!

 

card_name

card_name: bonus_miles_full. Plus, select airport lounge access, statement credit opportunities, and more! (Read why we love this card.) Read more and learn here how to apply. (card_name.)

card_name
card_name BEST EVER OFFER RETURN! Earn $900 bonus cash back (90,000 bonus points) after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening on the card_name ($900 bonus cashback awarded as 90,000 points) Learn more here.

Hilton Aspire Card from American Express

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: A Free Night Award each year, complimentary Diamond status, and several great statement opportunities. Plus, earn 150,000 bonus Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases on the card within your first 3 months of Card Membership approval. Learn here how to apply. (See Rates and Fees. Terms apply. All information about the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card was collected independently by Eye of the Flyer.)

card_name

The card_name is the new must-have “it” card for travel lovers! bonus_miles_full. Plus, earn $300 annually in statement credits for travel purchased through Capital One AND 10,000 bonus miles every year, after the first anniversary. The $395 annual fee can EASILY be earned back (here’s how) — and then some! Learn here how to apply.

card_name

Check out the card_name: you can bonus_miles_full Category-wise, the card earns 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. (Earn 1X per $1 on all other purchases.) Read more and learn here how to apply.

  Earn cash back with Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates) Earn cash back with TopCashback! RebatesMe Earn cash back with DOSH!

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Eye of the Flyer with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.

Subscribe

Subscribe To Our NewsletterJoin our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Resources

  • ✍ Editors Disclaimer
  • 💰 Advertiser Disclosure
  • 🔒 Privacy Policy
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉

Copyright © 2023 Eye of the Flyer. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • BANK & Travel Cards ★
    • Credit Cards
    • Travel Rewards Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Cash Back Credit Cards
    • No Annual Fee Credit Cards
    • Small Business Credit Cards
    • 0% Intro APR Cards
    • Balance Transfer Cards
    • Bad or Poor Credit
    • No Credit
  • Rookie
  • Elite Mileage Runs
  • Merchandise
  • αbout US ✉

Copyright © 2023 Eye of the Flyer. All Rights Reserved.

Cleantalk Pixel