Denham, United Kingdom-based
InterContinental Hotels Group (
IHG
)
recently announced the opening of a 160-room hotel under its brand
Holiday Inn Express in Brazil.
The new hotel named 'Holiday Inn Express Maceio Ponta Verde'
will be owned and managed by MC3 Imoveis Ltda. under a licensing
agreement. It is located in close proximity to one of the most
exotic tourist destinations in Brazil- the Ponta Verde beach in
Maceio, the capital of the Alagoas state. Maceio is centrally
located between the Atlantic Ocean and Mundau Lake in Northeast
Brazil.
Additionally, the hotel is also well linked to Maceio's famous
tourists' attractions like Theo Brandao Museum, the Craft Fair,
Ruth Cardoso Convention Center and the EcoPark Water Maceio.
Holiday Inn Express, one of the world's fastest growing hotel
brands, currently has more than 2,100 hotels located in major urban
centers, gateway cities and resort destinations across 60
countries.
Owing to the saturation in the U.S. market, major hoteliers are
exploring growth opportunities in the fast-growing emerging
economies of Latin America and Asia-Pacific. In 2011, RevPAR for
the comparable system wide properties increased 9.9 percentage
points year over year in the Caribbean and Latin America. The
stellar performance in this region is expected to continue going
forward.
Moreover, with the affluence of the middle class in Latin
America, inclination to spend on travel and leisure has somewhat
risen. Apart from tourism, the region is also successfully emerging
as a business hub.
Holiday Inn Express Maceio Ponta Verde marks InterContinental's
19th hotel under the Holiday Inn Express brand and 79th hotel under
various brands in Latin American and the Caribbean region. This
includes company's 13 hotels under various brands in nine cities of
Brazil.
InterContinental Hotels also recently announced the launch of
the 'Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam' in Thailand to expand its
presence in the Asia-Pacific and plans to open 12 additional
properties by 2014. Moreover, the company has five hotels in its
development pipeline that are slated to open by 2014 in Brazil.
However, the market is not devoid of competition. One of the
company's peers,
Hyatt Hotels Corp. (
H
)
recently announced the acquisition and rebranding of a 756-room
hotel under the brand Hyatt Regency Mexico City in Polanco, Mexico.
Several other major hoteliers like
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (
HOT
)
and
Marriott International Inc. (
MAR
)
are poised to beef up their portfolio in Latin American region.
InterContinental Hotels currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, which
translates into a short-term Hold rating. We are maintaining our
long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.
HYATT HOTELS CP (H): Free Stock Analysis Report
STARWOOD HOTELS (HOT): Free Stock Analysis
Report
INTERCONTL HTLS (IHG): Free Stock Analysis
Report
MARRIOTT INTL-A (MAR): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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