Dubai: The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has 28 hotels in its development pipeline as a part of its expansion plan across the Middle East over the next three to five years, according to a senior company executive.

These would include new offerings from IHG’s hotel portfolio of a total of six brands, the key ones being Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn. The first project as a part of IHG’s expansion strategy was announced by the company earlier this week. The InterContinental Dubai Marina, as a part of the Bay Central development in the Marina area, is set to open by the end of next year.

“InterContinental was the first international hotel brand in the Middle East over 50 years ago and we have had a long and strong history in the region since then. We are committed to growing here and the region benefits from strong demand drivers with a healthy inbound and outbound travel market, so there are lots of opportunities,” Taras Ettl, Vice President, Development, Middle East & Africa, IHG, told Gulf News.

He added that the company expects that this region will remain a buoyant market “which will help support our ambitious growth over the next few years”.

Among other properties, IHG also signed InterContinental Muscat Hills earlier this year, in addition to announcing InterContinental Riyadh King Abdullah Financial District, which is expected to open at the same time as the first Hotel Indigo [IHG’s boutique hotel brand] in the region, Ettl said.

Further, IHG also is focused on expanding the network of its Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands. The group already opened the Crowne Plaza Doha The Business Park in Qatar earlier this year as well as the first Holiday Inn Express in Bahrain last month.

Later this year, the group will focus on opening the Crowne Plaza Dead Sea Resort in Jordan and the first Crowne Plaza hotel in Medinah, according to Ettl, besides opening its sixth hotel in Riyadh, the Holiday Inn Riyadh Meydan.

“Our mid-scale brands, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express are growing at pace, with 50 per cent of our development pipeline across India, Middle East and Africa now made up of these two brands,” said Ettl.

Asked about the company’s revenue stream, Ettl said that last year 69 per cent of total hotel rooms’ revenue globally was booked through IHG’s channels, such as websites, reservations centres and sales team or direct to hotels.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,500 hotels and more than 666,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, The group expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.

[Rohma Sadaqat is a trainee at Gulf News]