Revamped 'next-generation' Holiday Inns set to launch this year

InterContinental Hotels Group has announced that its "next-generation" Holiday Inns are scheduled to open this year, with one of the first opening on Shanghai's Nanjing Road in April.

As the birthplace of modern commerce in Shanghai, Nanjing Road has a history stretching back more than a century. The road was converted to a pedestrian street in 1999 and quickly became a huge retail success.

In 2019, the same year Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street launched an extension plan, Holiday Inn announced its next-generation design in China.

Taking the opportunity of the extension of Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, Howard Johnson Plaza Shanghai chose to rebrand the hotel and join IHG.

After more than a year's renovation, Holiday Inn Shanghai Nanjing Road opened in April 2021 and has been well received with high occupancy rates, according to the hotel.

"Just as Nanjing Road has welcomed a new look, Holiday Inn is also adapting to evolving consumer needs, offering new brand experiences for discerning business and leisure travelers," a statement from the hotel group said.

The upgrades cover design, amenities and services. By refreshing the lobby and guest rooms with a selection of colors, materials, new furniture and furnishings, and redesigned lighting, the new Holiday Inn hotels will provide enhanced brand experiences, according to the statement.

New amenities provided by The White Company, a well-known British brand, are packaged in large bottles to support environment sustainability.

"What the new-generation Holiday Inn presents is not only the changes in design and services, but the brand's faith and resolution in insistence on innovation," Lu noted. "We believe that on its journey of a new lease of life, the brand will create more joyful and wonderful memories for its guests."

Along with Crowne Plaza Shanghai Nanjing Road, Holiday Inn Shanghai Nanjing Road, and the boutique Hotel Indigo Shanghai on the Bund, IHG has increased its presence in the heart of the city's Huangpu district.

"As one of the earliest international hotel brands that entered China, Holiday Inn witnessed the development of China's hotel industry," said Lu Haiqing, an executive at IHG.

Since Holiday Inn Lido Beijing opened in 1984, the brand has opened more than 110 hotels across the country and another 70-plus are under construction.

In the next three years, more new Holiday Inn hotels are planned to open in popular tourist destinations, such as Chongqing; Xi'an, Shaanxi province; Qingdao, Shandong province; Dalian, Liaoning province; and Chengdu, Sichuan province.

"As an 'in China for China' business having operated here for 37 years, we aim to contribute to this booming land and provide our guests with true hospitality for good," according to the statement from IHG.