IHG plans to build 37 new UK hotels

(BLOOMBERG)

Intercontinental hotel Group (IHG) plans to open 37 new hotels across the UK, creating 3,000 jobs, as part of a £500m investment. The centrepiece will be an IHG hotel in Westminster, due to open in December 2011, as well as two hotels in the Olympic Village in 2012. There will also be new hotels in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Colchester, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

The vacancies were unveiled as IHG, which owns hotel brands including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo, reported growth in room rates for the first time in nearly two years. A return of the business traveller has lifted sales and demand worldwide, leading to an average 1.8 per cent rise in rates across the group.

The figure emerged as IHG posted a 5 per cent increase in revenues for the three months to 30 September at $421m (£261m), although operating profits fell by 7 per cent to $115m.