IHG Celebrates Five Years Since Launch of IHG Army Hotels

The global hotel company opens 1,300 guest rooms in one month and the largest Candlewood Suites® hotel

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Nov 03, 2014, 12:10 ET

ATLANTA, Nov. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world's leading hotel companies, celebrates five years as the exclusive hotel brander, manager and operator of the billion dollar Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) program. IHG continues progress to brand former U.S. Army Lodging facilities as Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® or Candlewood Suites® hotels. These hotels are offering the service experience that IHG guests around the world know and trust on U.S. military posts across 25 states and territories.

IHG and Lend Lease, the PAL program hotel owner and developer, joined U.S. Army officials for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Joint Base San Antonio to welcome the brand's largest Candlewood Suites hotel with 310-guest rooms, and an adjacent 150-guest room Holiday Inn Express® property. This year, IHG has opened 1,300 guest rooms on U.S. military posts, including 800 rooms opened on a single day, demonstrating momentum for the branding of IHG Army Hotels.

Arthur Holst, vice president, Operations, IHG Army Hotels stated: "We believe that our strong, well-known hotel brands and deep expertise and reputation as a trusted management business gave us a competitive advantage in being selected by the U.S. Army to brand and manage their on-post lodging. IHG Army Hotels are delivering excellent guest service experiences, while also improving the quality of on-post lodging for Service Members, their families, government travelers and military retirees. Over the past five years, we have successfully brought 77 U.S. Army lodging facilities into the IHG Army Hotels portfolio through three separate phases; and we remain focused on providing high-quality management and service at all of these properties."

IHG expects to brand an existing 2,000 guest rooms on two U.S. military posts by the end of 2015. The PAL program provides a long-term reinvestment plan for renovations and improvements to convert and retro-fitted existing Army lodging to Holiday Inn Express brand standards, and replace some facilities with new-build Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels. These three hotel brands are uniquely designed to meet the diverse guest needs and stay occasions of business and leisure travelers and have been further customized to meet the specific needs of military guests.

IHG is further enhancing the booking experience for an important group of guests – veterans – by offering a special Retiree Rate for stays at IHG Army Hotels properties. This rate combined with the complimentary breakfast, free parking and transportation provided at all on-post hotels make their travels a little easier. Guests at IHG Army Hotels can expect a great night's rest and an efficient stay experience while at a Holiday Inn Express hotel and an all-suite, residential-style hotel experience at the Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites hotels.

About IHG Army Hotels

The IHG Army Hotels portfolio includes hotels on 39 U.S. military posts with 11,657 guestrooms. The hotels are branded and operated by IHG with Lend Lease as the hotel developer.

Guests staying at IHG Army Hotels are eligible to earn points IHG® Rewards Club points. To date, on-post guests have already been awarded over 800 million IHG® Rewards Club points redeemable for future stays at over 4,700 IHG-branded hotels worldwide. Guests can enroll at www.ihgrewardsclub.com or by calling 1 (877) 424-2449.

There are 350,000 people around the world who bring IHG's broad portfolio of nine hotel brands to life. IHG has a commitment to its people, and utilizes proprietary tools to hire, train and develop world-class talent. IHG will continue to fill positions in the IHG Army Hotels portfolio, including Management, Front Desk, Housekeeping, Maintenance and Food and Beverage. For more information or to learn about career opportunities with IHG Army Hotels, please visit IHGpal.com or IHG-veterans.jobs. To book a stay, please visit www.IHGArmyHotels.com.

Notes to Editors:
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organization with a broad portfolio of nine hotel brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE® Hotels and Resorts.

IHG manages IHG® Rewards Club, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty program with over 82 million members worldwide. The program was relaunched in July 2013, offering enhanced benefits for members including free internet across all hotels, globally.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,700 hotels and 697,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries, with almost 1,200 hotels in its development pipeline.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihg.com/media, www.twitter.com/ihg, www.facebook.com/ihg or www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

Lend Lease
Lend Lease is a leading international property and infrastructure group. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and with circa 16,500 employees worldwide, the firm's capabilities span the property and infrastructure spectrum.

In the US, Lend Lease's public partnership business is the nation's leader in public/private community development. With a focus on creating sustainable value, Lend Lease creates communities that regenerate our environment, enrich people's lives and foster economic growth. Lend Lease has worked extensively with the Department of Defense through the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI), a program that provides for the transfer of military housing assets to private sector companies. With over 40,000 residential units, 192 apartments and more than 11,600 hotel rooms in its portfolio, Lend Lease will finance, develop, build, renovate and operate these sites for at least 50 years.

We create innovative and sustainable property solutions, forging partnerships and delivering maximum benefits to clients, investors and communities. Safety is our number one priority and Lend Lease is committed to operating Incident & Injury Free wherever we have a presence.
www.lendlease.com

SOURCE IHG Hotels & Resorts