IHG reveals new franchise-ready, midscale brand Avid
Keith Barr, chief executive officer, IHG, said: “We built our Holiday Inn Express brand into a hugely successful, leading midscale brand. Now, with the introduction of Avid Hotels, we’re set to add another one and extend IHG’s leadership position in this segment. With 14 million potential customers looking for the type of hospitality Avid hotels will offer, this new hotel brand represents a significant growth opportunity for IHG and our family of owners.”
Reaching an important set of business and leisure travellers
This brand is designed for travellers who want a hotel stay that meets their expectations for the type of hospitality they value most – the basics done exceptionally well – at a price point expected to be about $10-15 less than IHG’s Holiday Inn Express brand.
Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, IHG, The Americas, added: “Our extensive consumer research and conversations with owners identified a clear opportunity to reach an important set of business and leisure travellers in a vastly underserved $20bn segment of the US midscale market. We applied our insights, expertise, and scale to deliver an experience that features modern and stylish designs, superior guest rooms and public spaces and great service – all at an excellent value. I have no doubt Avid Hotels will continue IHG’s success in delivering what our guests want while driving superior returns for our owners.”
In addition to creating the brand to delight guests, its design and operating model was developed in collaboration with an owner advisory board, ensuring that avid hotels are efficient to build, operate and maintain. Hotels will be designed for new build construction on an average lot size of approximately 1.5 acres, and all Avid Hotels will be built to lead the industry in environmentally friendly and efficient design. The prototype design features 95-100 keys with a minimum of three stories.
