IHG Launches Yet Another Luxury Hotel Brand: Should Accor Be Worried?
Photo Credit: IHG's new luxury and lifestyle brand will complement some of the company's existing high-end offerings like InterContinental (pictured). Wikimedia / HEBS Digital
Skift Take
Luxury and lifestyle hotels are the industry's new battlefield for growth. IHG's rapid growth in this sector with new brands over the last few years boils down to one thing: This company isn't just ceding high-end customers to companies like Accor, Hilton, and Marriott.
Another day, another brand for the hotel CEO who once cautioned against brand bloat across the hospitality sector.
IHG Hotels & Resorts expects to launch a new soft brand collection of luxury and lifestyle hotels in the next few weeks, the company's CEO Keith Barr said Tuesday on an investor call.
IHG’s further elbowing into the luxury and lifestyle space is a shot across the bow (and English Channel) to competitors like Paris-based Accor, which has also emphasized growth in both sectors during the pandemic. Hilton also recently indicated plans to beef up its LXR Hotels & Resorts luxury soft brand in markets like the U.S. and Israel.
With so many hotel companies looking to sign deals, that likely puts more leverage into the hands of potential franchisees at the negotiating table.
The soft brand space enables hotel owners to retain more autonomy than they would under an agreement with one of IHG’s hard brands and accompanying standards like InterContinental. It a
