Spread the love

IHG Hotels & Resorts (IHG), one of the world’s leading hotel companies, is celebrating 6,000 open hotels by unveiling the ‘6,000 Club’ and announcing partnerships with major sports and entertainment events across the globe.

The 6,000 Club features a collection of stunning newly opened hotels from IHG’s iconic portfolio, showcasing the global reach of its 17 brands and the many ways its hotel teams delight owners and guests by delivering True Hospitality for Good, every day. Australian hotels celebrated in the 6000 Club include Kimpton Margot Sydney – which marked Kimpton’s brand’s Down Under in February – and voco Melbourne Central, Australia’s first new-build voco hotel that opened in April.

The milestone was commemorated by IHG CEO, Keith Barr, at the New York Stock Exchange on June 7 when he rang the bell to signal the close of trading, alongside local hotel General Managers and colleagues.

In the past five years, IHG has broadened its appeal to owners and guests by acquiring or launching six exciting brands to take the portfolio to 17 – providing more choice and amazing experiences than ever before. The new additions include Luxury & Lifestyle brands Six Senses, Regent and Vignette Collection; Premium brand, voco hotels; Essentials brand, avid hotels; and Suites brand, Atwell Suites. Locally, Australasia has been turbo-charging its growth across the IHG portfolio, officially opening the world’s first Vignette Collection with Hotel X Brisbane Fortitude Valley. From the world’s first voco hotel on the Gold Coast in 2018, the region is now home to five vocos – cementing the brand as IHG’s fastest expansion.

IHG is set to grow its portfolio by a further 30 percent, with more than 1,800 hotels already signed in its development pipeline, including more than 29 in Australasia, over the next five years, illustrating how much owners value the strength of IHG’s scale and brands. To thank guests, the company recently reinvented its loyalty programme, IHG One Rewards, to offer members more choice, value and richer rewards than ever before – all powered by leading technology on a new mobile app.

The company is also announcing a series of exciting multi-year sports and entertainment partnerships for IHG One Rewards members that will connect travellers at events worldwide, including Major League Soccer, European Professional Club Rugby and music festivals across the US and UK. The partnerships will reward loyal members with the chance to create memorable moments from events the world has missed in recent years.

IHG Hotels & Resorts CEO, Keith Barr, said: “I’m incredibly proud of our IHG Hotels & Resorts teams for reaching a milestone of 6,000 hotels open around the world, and would like to thank our owners for their collaboration and our guests for their love and trust in our brands. Every single property we open is a cause for celebration as we offer guests unrivalled experiences in amazing locations and give owners even more reasons to work with us. Our new partnerships will connect more of our IHG One Rewards members with memorable moments as travel continues to return. With over 1,800 hotels in our pipeline, I’m looking forward to IHG’s next chapter of growth and celebrating plenty more milestones to come.”

Introducing the 6,000 Club

Hotels in the 6,000 Club will celebrate the occasion in the coming months by surprising select guests with 6,000 IHG One Rewards points. Some of the hotels in the Club are:

  • Kimpton Margot Sydney – as one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in Australia, the Kimpton brand breathes new life into the heritage-listed hotel, offering guests a treasure-trove of history and art, a rooftop pool, wine bar and a 1,725 square foot ‘Celebrity Suite’
  • voco Melbourne Central – Australia’s first new-build voco hotel featuring 252 guestrooms in the heart of the city, alongside a showstopping Sky Lobby, plunge pool, open-plan Brasserie and sustainable innovations from the herb garden to eco-bedding
  • Hotel Indigo Inuyama Urakuen Garden – Japan’s third Hotel Indigo opened in the colourful castle town of Inuyama, lending itself to an abundance of neighbourhood stories, from local craftworks to spellbinding gardens and the region’s only traditional onsen
  • Six Senses Fort Barwara – a beautiful 14th-century fort in India that was converted to become a sanctuary of well-being after a significant conservation effort
  • Regent Phu Quoc – the first all-suites-and-villas resort under the upper luxury brand in Southeast Asia, located off the southwest coast of Vietnam alongside a UNESCO-designated World Biosphere Reserve
  • voco The Hague – the first for the brand in the Netherlands, which includes a garden terrace designed by an expert ecologist who created a welcoming space for nature to thrive
  • Staybridge Suites Al Khobar City – the second for the brand in Saudi Arabia, this all-suites hotel is located on the shores of the Arabian Gulf in the heart of the corporate and shopping hub of vibrant Al Khobar

For the complete list of the 6,000 Club, please click here. With no sign of slowing down, IHG will continue its expansion into new, exciting destinations across Australasia, including Australia’s second Hotel Indigo – Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre – in July, the much-anticipated InterContinental Sorrento Mornington Peninsula in August, and the island jewel InterContinental Lifou Wadra Bay set to open by the end of 2022. Holiday Inn Dandenong will also kick-start the brand’s ambitious footprint across regional towns from December, with Holiday Inn & Suites Geelong and Wagga Wagga to follow. Announced this year, IHG also signed its first property on the NSW South Coast with Crowne Plaza Shell Cove Marina, due to open in 2025.

IHG Partnerships

With a shared belief that experiences bring people together, the new partnerships will connect travellers around the world. Each national partnership will bring people together by creating new ways to redeem IHG One Rewards points and celebrate the universal love of music and sports. Highlights include:

  • The Governors Ball, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Music Midtown, Ohana Festival: While watching live performances, attendees can enjoy exclusive benefits with IHG One Rewards, including backstage access and time in VIP Lounges.
  • Major League Soccer (MSL): With a multi-year agreement as the official hotel sponsor, IHG Hotels & Resorts and MLS are partnering to create unique, enhanced money-can’t-buy experiences exclusively for IHG One Rewards members and MLS fans across the country.
  • European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR): With the Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup 2021/2022 tournaments ending in May, under this three-season agreement, IHG and EPCR will welcome fans back at the start of the 2022/2023 season beginning this December.