IHG Hotels & Resorts

InterContinental Hotels was founded in 1946 by Juan Trippe, the founder of Pan American World Airways, who recognised that his airline's international passengers needed high-quality hotels in cities where they had no adequate options. The first InterContinental Hotel opened in Belém, Brazil in 1949. The concept was to create consistent luxury standards in international cities that would reassure American business travellers abroad. Pan Am operated InterContinental as a separate entity for decades, until financial difficulties forced the airline's decline and eventual bankruptcy in 1991.

IHG's other major lineage comes from Holiday Inn, founded by Kemmons Wilson in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee — the chain that created the concept of consistent, reliable, affordable motor lodging across America. Holiday Inn was so transformative that it effectively invented the modern mid-scale hotel category. Bass PLC — a British brewing company that had diversified into hotels and leisure — acquired Holiday Inn International in 1988 and InterContinental in 1998, assembling a portfolio that combined American mid-scale with international luxury. Bass renamed its hotel business Six Continents Hotels, then spun it off in 2003 as InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

InterContinental Hotels Group was listed independently in 2003 following Bass PLC's decision to separate its brewing and hotel businesses. The new company retained the InterContinental brand for luxury properties, Holiday Inn for mid-scale, Crowne Plaza for upper-upscale business hotels, and a growing portfolio of other brands. IHG adopted an asset-light model — franchising and managing rather than owning properties — which became the dominant model for large hotel companies. The IHG Rewards loyalty programme (now IHG One Rewards) became one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes.

IHG expanded significantly into luxury and lifestyle categories through acquisitions and brand development: voco (a "soft brand" allowing individual hotels to maintain their identity while joining the IHG system), HUALUXE (designed specifically for Chinese guests), Regent Hotels & Resorts (ultra-luxury, acquired 2018 for $39 million for a majority stake), and Six Senses (wellness and eco-luxury, acquired 2019 for $300 million). The additions gave IHG credibility in segments where Holiday Inn's mid-scale positioning had not played.

IHG Hotels & Resorts operated over 6,100 hotels with approximately 912,000 rooms across 19 brands in 100+ countries as of 2024. IHG One Rewards had approximately 130 million members, with the programme growing particularly fast in Asia. The company reported revenue of approximately $2.3 billion for 2024 — a relatively small number reflecting the asset-light model where most revenue flows to franchisees rather than IHG directly; system-wide revenues (the total spending in IHG-branded hotels) were orders of magnitude larger. Holiday Inn remained the world's most recognised mid-scale hotel brand, representing a founding insight from 1952 that families and business travellers needed consistent, reliable, affordable lodging.