INDIA Three of the four InterContinental-branded hotels in India are slated to exit the IHG system within the next year, and IHG is planning to use the opportunity to reposition its luxury brand in the country.
InterContinental Marine Drive-Mumbai will be brand’s lone representative in India by this time next year, IHG spokesman Stephen Boggs confirms to HOTELS.
Two of the properties, InterContinental The LaLit Mumbai and InterContinental The LaLit Goa Resort, are owned by New Delhi-based Bharat Hotels Ltd., which is in the process of launching its own domestic luxury brand, The LaLit.
Eros Group, the owners of the fourth InterContinental in India—InterContinental Nehru Palace, New Delhi—is reportedly in negotiations with Hilton Worldwide about reflagging that 214-key property.
Going forward, IHG will no longer franchise the InterContinental brand in India, but will instead pursue management deals and perhaps some ownership situations. “It is absolutely in our strategy for India to work with like-minded partners to drive quality growth,” Boggs says. “These exits will allow us to reposition the InterContinental brand for future success in India.”