CHINA IHG announced plans earlier this year to launch a new upper-upscale hotel brand specific to the needs and wants of Chinese travelers, and some details have emerged about just what the brand might look like.
The as-yet unnamed brand will have a grander lobby than InterContinental Hotels & Resorts properties, and its main restaurant will be “more Chinese” and will have additional private dining rooms. Rather than a bar, the hotel’s social center will be a teahouse.
“There is rising demand for something that is truly Chinese— and not the Western view of what is Chinese,” says Keith Barr, IHG’s CEO for greater China. “They want the assurance of an international brand… but they are very proud to be Chinese.” He spoke at a luncheon in Shanghai on Monday, Financial Times reports.
Barr also reports that IHG has changed the name of its Holiday Inn Express brand in China, as the direct translation into Mandarin gave a connotation of it being a budget brand. The new name translates as “Smart Choice.”
