February 27, 2018 View in browser
InterContinental Hotels Group might be home to one of the best-known names in luxury, but the company clearly thinks it is not enough.

Last week in its full-year results announcement, IHG made a commitment to expand the luxury side of its business by establishing a new unit and most intriguingly by stating it wanted to buy one or two new brands.

At the moment, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is out on its own, unless you want to include Kimpton (nice try IHG), so it could do with some high-end company.

IHG isn't in the market for a big deal, which sort of rules out something like Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, and ideally is looking for something small and asset-light to incubate.

We're not exactly sure what brands IHG has in mind, but if any of you do, please get in touch.

— Patrick Whyte, Europe Editor

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6 LOOKS AT LUXURY
InterContinental Hotels Wants to Buy Luxury Brands
Under previous CEO Richard Solomons, the company had looked to fill "white space" in its portfolio and it looks like this plan is continuing under his successor. Despite having a well-established luxury brand, the area is something of a weak spot, with no true high-end offering. It sounds like IHG is well on the way to rectifying this.
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Skift Europe Editor Patrick Whyte [pw@skift.com] curates the New Luxury newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Tuesday.
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