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Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Centre opens

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First hotel to open with newly designed Holiday Inn Express bedroom

October 06, 2009 // Franchising.com // The Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Centre opened today.

As well as opening with the new brand identity, it's the first hotel in Europe to feature the newly designed Holiday Inn Express bedroom, developed by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to offer guests new levels of comfort and an improved layout.

The former tax office in the centre of Hamburg has been converted by Aprrimus, a subsidiary of hotel operator Foremost Hospitality HIEX GmbH, to create a 179-room hotel with the new Holiday Inn Express contemporary look and feel. Located on the Lübecker Straße, in the centre of Hamburg, the hotel has good transport links and a car park making it the perfect base for business and leisure travellers alike.

The lobby features a decorative water feature wall, large flat screen televisions and access to a comfortable bar area with 70 television channels.

IHG has re-engineered the Holiday Inn Express bedroom to deliver a more modern design with dark wood furniture, a larger bathroom and workspace and flat screen televisions.

The new hotel is part of the €700 million global relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand family - Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express - announced in October 2007 to create a more contemporary look and feel and ensure guests receive a consistently good experience at more than 3,200 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world.

With the relaunch, Holiday Inn is maintaining its heritage of providing a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere by focusing on the elements that matter most to guests. An informal service culture dedicated to treating guests as individuals, combined with a new contemporary look and feel, improved bedding and a choice of soft or firm pillows, a new shower experience and new lighting and signage, have seen guest satisfaction improve even further.

Guests at the Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Centre will be welcomed by a scent unique to Holiday Inn Express properties worldwide and a signature music programme, with an eclectic mix of songs from Paul Simon, Silbermond, Juli, Klee, Kraftwerk and Norah Jones on the playlist.

Rick Lam, vice-president commercial, Continental Europe, IHG, said: "Holiday Inn Express is an uncomplicated hotel choice for guests on the go, offering the quality and service of a Holiday Inn with pared down facilities to suit the needs of guests on the move. In spite of the global downturn we have continued to focus on growing the Holiday Inn Express brand across Germany at the same time improving the experience with the global relaunch."

The Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Centre is owned by the German fund manager Union Investment and operated by Foremost Hospitality HIEX GmbH, part of the Foremost Group. Foremost Hospitality HIEX GmbH has 20 Holiday Inn Express hotels in the pipeline across Germany including its second Holiday Inn Express hotel in Hamburg which is currently under construction in the St. Pauli district of the city. The 120-room hotel is scheduled to open in March 2010.

Hubert Van De Loo, managing director, Foremost Hospitality HIEX GmbH, added: "Despite the tough economic climate, our plan to build 20 more Holiday Inn Express hotels across Germany remains unchanged. The outstanding performance of our newly opened hotels in Munich Airport and Berlin City Centre demonstrates the strength and popularity of the Holiday Inn Express brand."

Like all Holiday Inn Express hotels, the Holiday Inn Express Hamburg City Centre offers complimentary breakfast. Rooms start from €69 a night.

IHG has 40 Holiday Inn hotels and 15 Holiday Inn Express hotels in Germany as well as six InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and six Crowne Plaza hotels.

About IHG:

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 4,300 hotels and almost 630,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®, and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards with 44 million members worldwide.

IHG has nearly 1,600 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create 140,000 jobs worldwide 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.

About Foremost Hospitality:

The Foremost Group was founded in 2002 by English-Egyptian businessman and private investor Usama Dessoky in London. The Foremost Group specialises in the development and management of contemporary city hotels in the mid to upper price segment, particularly under licence from IHG. At present, the Foremost Group has a portfolio of four Holiday Inn Express hotels, three of which are located in Germany (Munich, Hamburg and Berlin) and one of which is in England (Kingston-upon-Hull). The Group is currently in the process of developing hotels in Hamburg (St. Pauli), Dresden, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Berlin.

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