The IHG Academy Grows By Adding New Programs in the Americas

ATLANTA, Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON: IHG, NYSE: IHG (ADRs)], one of the world's leading hotel companies, announces the expansion of the IHG Academy through a collaboration with Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia to establish Canada's first program and the ninth in the region. The IHG Academy is a global network of educational and community organizations allied with local IHG-branded hotels or corporate offices to provide hospitality knowledge and training to the community and to drive economic growth. Through training and mentoring, the IHG Academy has assisted nearly 10,000 people worldwide in becoming skilled hospitality workers and achieving their professional goals in the hospitality field.

The IHG Academy generates a pipeline of motivated talent with real-world hospitality training that has the potential to work in IHG-branded hotels and in the industry.  Today, IHG also announces a need to staff 32,000 new hospitality jobs in IHG-branded hotels in the Americas region, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean, during the next three years, as its robust business growth strategy keeps pace with rising global tourism demand.  Likewise, by 2015, IHG-branded hotels worldwide will seek to fill 90,000 new jobs through active recruitment of talent, the IHG Academy programs and other channels.    

"Tourism is a fundamental pillar of any economy, and what we do matters to the health of our society," said Kirk Kinsell, president, the Americas, IHG. "As a global hotel company, we are building a competitive advantage in our sector by focusing on creating the potential for meaningful career opportunities for people in the communities where our hotels operate."

Currently, in the Americas, IHG directly employs more than 14,500 people and directly hired more than 2,700 employees in the first half of 2012. The recruitment effort over the next few years will create positions in IHG's owned and managed hotels, corporate offices and reservation centers in roles such as Food and Beverage and Global Technology.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council's (WTTC) "Economic Impact of Travel & Tourism 2012" summary report, the broader industry is projected to generate nearly 1-in-10 jobs around the globe by 2022 through direct employment, jobs created in the supply sectors and the spending of industry employees. As a global hotel company, IHG and our franchisee community will contribute to the significant growth of our industry's economic impact over the next decade.

"We're doing our part through the IHG Academy to close the skills gap in our industry between open jobs and those eligible for employment," added Kinsell. "We're proud of all of our hotel owners and employees, who are strengthening our economy for the long-term by rolling up their sleeves to help develop a skilled workforce equipped to meet today's hospitality industry needs."

Since launching in Shanghai, China in 2006, the IHG Academy program has successfully developed by using a business model that enables collaboration with small to medium-sized organizations, often local to the hotel location. In some instances, participants have even started careers in IHG-branded hotels. Supportive career development is an important aspect of every program that helps give employees the potential to grow from entry-level to management positions.

"We're thrilled about the growth of our IHG Academy program through exciting collaborations such as this with Cape Breton University," said David Jerome, senior vice president, Corporate Responsibility, IHG. "We continue to leverage our deep service culture around the world to mentor and train talent, while bringing on board more IHG owners and employees ready to start new academies. Strong supporters who are enthusiastic and engaged are critical to our mission's success. We want to create recruitment links in our industry for people who may not have considered a career in hospitality or otherwise been employable."  

Around the world, more than 132 hotels in the IHG family of brands, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, and Candlewood Suites® have established more than 80 IHG Academy programs, including 16 programs in Europe and 56 programs in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In the U.S., IHG has collaborated with top universities and nonprofit organizations to create the IHG Academy programs, including New York University, Atlanta Children's Shelter, Wayland School in Boston, and Temple University and Holy Family University in Philadelphia. In Mexico, IHG-branded hotels have partnered with the Youth Career Initiative (YCI) of Mexico City and Cancun, and, in Latin America, the Youth Career Initiative (YCI) of Sao Paulo, Brazil and the Panama International School.

The IHG Academy has an active pipeline of programs in the Americas that are under development. These new academies, which are in the process of finalizing agreements, include programs sponsored by employees at IHG's regional headquarters in Atlanta and by managed and franchised hotels in major U.S. markets such as Give Kids the World with Holiday Inn Lake Buena Vista; and the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management at the University of Memphis with Holiday Inn Memphis - Wolfchase Galleria and the Holiday Inn Downtown Memphis.

For more information and to read IHG's current Corporate Responsibility Report, please go to www.ihg.com/responsibility.

Notes to Editors:

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organization with nine hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites®, as well as our two newest brands, EVEN™ Hotels and HUALUXE™ Hotels & Resorts. IHG also manages Priority Club® Rewards, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty program with over 67 million members worldwide.

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, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.

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.priorityclub.com for more on Priority Club Rewards. For our latest news, visit www.ihg.com/media, www.twitter.com/ihgplc, www.facebook.com/ihg or www.youtube.com/ihgplc.

SOURCE IHG Hotels & Resorts