IHG Retains Top Spot Surpassing the 600,000 Room Mark Due to pre-planned projects, most leading hotel groups posted positive supply growths / MKG Hospitality’s world ranking 2009.
WORLD, 26 May 2009: UK-based InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) retains its number one position in the world, surpassing the 600,000 room mark.
Meanwhile, Hilton Hotels recorded the largest growth among the top 10 at 9.3%, bringing their global room count to over half-a-million.
Projects already launched prior to the financial downturn transpired in 2008, hence why there are still such positive increases. Although some growth is still expected, the rest of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 will prove to be much slower, with companies acting a lot more cautious in order ride-out the current economic uncertainty. According to Director of Development, MKG Hospitality, Vanguélis Panayotis, franchise contracts will now be the major battle ground for these leading hotel groups.
Top 10 Hotel Groups in the world
Since 2004, IHG has been the world’s largest hotel group. 25,000 new rooms joined the group’s inventory in the second half of 2008, whilst a pipeline growth of 250,000 over the next few years should make sure IHG remains the world’s number one group. The group’s continued growth was aided by the expansion of Holiday Inn Express, taking advantage of the economy segment’s currently strong position. This was supported with expansion of Crowne Plaza, the arrival of long-stay brand Staybridge Suites and Indigo boutique hotels in Europe, as well as entry into the timeshare market in September with Holiday Inn Club Vacations. Overall, IHG recorded a 5.9% global room supply growth.
Wyndham International trails in second position. The US-based group recorded a 7.7% increase in its rooms supply, edging ever so closely to the number one spot. This growth was predominantly driven by the $131 million acquisition of two brands from Global Hyatt, the