Hotel Sokolniki, Moscow
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) continues its Russian expansion having signed a further Moscow property ” its seventh in the city.
The new-build Holiday Inn Moscow Ryazanskiy will offer 240 rooms and is expected to open by mid-2010.
The group aims to add another 2,000 rooms in the capital by the end of that year ” it currently offers 1,400 - and has nine other properties in the pipeline, including the 205-room new build InterContinental Moscow near the Kremlin, also due in 2010.
”There is very strong demand for internationally-branded hotels ” the room rates are premium across all brands and we are growing fast,” said IHG vice president strategic development Russia & CIS, Michael Cooper. ”With approximately 10% of the number of international standard rooms of Paris or London, we believe there is plenty of growth to go for; the market is undersupplied.”
IHG also has signed deals for the Holiday Inn Volomkolamshoye Shosse on the main arterial route into the city, as well as two Holiday Inn hotels in the increasingly important south-east quadrant.
And outside of Moscow, three more hotels are under construction in St Petersburg, and others are planned for Samara, Rostov, Chelyabinsk and Novosibirsk.
”A buoyant overseas market, increasing domestic business and an emerging domestic leisure market have created great opportunities across the country,” said Cooper. Increasingly Russians across the country are viewing international-branded hotels as their number one choice for business and social events.”
IHG will launch a Russian language website - to be fully operational by the end of this month - as part of the expansion strategy.