InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced its first set of signings for the new HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts brand, which has been specifically designed for Chinese consumers.
According to the UK-based IHG, eight management contracts have been signed since the brand launch earlier in 2012, including hotels in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as six business and leisure destinations across China.
The eight new signings, which are all in cities where IHG already has an open hotel or a hotel in the pipeline, will take the total number of rooms under the HUALUXE brand pipeline to nearly 2,800.
IHG said the signings will complement its existing hotels, and that the HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts brand is a key part of its strategy to increase market share in Greater China.
Initially, HUALUXE will launch in tier 1, 2 and 3 cities and resort locations, and over the next 15 to 20 years the brand is expected to launch in over 100 cities in the country.
The signed hotels and resorts have been inked with new owners who are working with IHG for the first time and are expected to open between 2014 and 2016.
The hotels include the 380-room HUALUXE Beijing Xinan, the 400-room HUALUXE Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao, the 350-room HUALUXE Chengdu High-Tech West, the 380-room HUALUXE Zhangjiajie Resort, the 300-room HUALUXE Ordos Dongsheng, the 350-room HUALUXE Foshan Nanhai, the 282-room HUALUXE Yangjiang City Centre and the 330-room HUALUXE Fuzhou Downtown.
IHG, which has more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,500 hotels and more than 666,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories.
