Year's grace on Holiday Inn revamp

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has given its 2,500 American Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express owners another year to complete its $1bn rebranding exercise, the biggest in the history of the industry, as the effects of the credit crunch hits home.

American owners were originally expected to complete the rebranding by the end of 2009, but IHG executives have given them another year to revamp their hotels.

Meanwhile, IHG's Owners' Association said it had "lightened standards" in the wake of the global downturn, abandoning plans to put flat-screen TVs in every single Holiday Inn room across the globe.

A spokesman for IHG said: "Current market conditions are putting pressure on the industry and it is important that IHG listens harder now than ever to concerns raised by owners on any aspect of the business. In partnership with its owners IHG is pressing ahead with the re-launch of the global Holiday Inn estate by the end of 2010."