IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) announced yesterday the
signing of a management contract to operate three hotels and over
800 rooms in Changzhou, a key Eastern China city near Shanghai.
Consisting of one Crowne Plaza hotel and two Holiday Inn Express
hotels within an integrated city centre commercial complex, the
three hotels will be developed by Top Spring Group, a leading Hong
Kong retail investment and real estate developer. Top Spring Group
has also signed a strategic partnership with IHG, giving IHG
preferential branding and management rights to all of Top Spring’s
upcoming hotel developments across China.
The three hotels will be part of the Landmark International
Commercial Center, located in the centre of Changzhou. The
integrated complex will have over 580,000 square meters of retail
outlets, offices, exhibition space, entertainment facilities,
residences and hotels. The hotels to be managed by IHG are: Holiday
Inn Express City Center Changzhou, Crowne Plaza Changzhou, and
Holiday Inn Express Landmark Changzhou.
“Top Spring Group has significant knowledge and expertise in
China’s real estate market and we are pleased to partner with them
as they grow their hotel portfolio across China,” said Mr. Tony
South, acting chief executive, IHG Asia Pacific. “This strategic
multi-brand, multi-property partnership, once again demonstrates
that IHG is the partner of choice for hotel developers and owners
in China.”
Mr. Wong Chun Hong, chairman and managing director of Top Spring
Group, said, “We recognize the growing needs of hotel industry in
Changzhou and other parts of China, and we are delighted to be
partnering with IHG, the world’s largest hotel group by number of
rooms, to launch the new hotels in Landmark International
Commercial Centre. We are confident that IHG’s world-recognized
hotel brands and established operating systems will help our hotels
provide the highest quality of products and services to our
guests.”
Changzhou is a key tourism destination, attracting more than 20
million tourists with tourism revenues of 400 million yuan in 2006.
It is also a significant manufacturing base, home to industrial
parks that house various international and domestic companies.
(China.org.cn, June 21, 2007)