New InterContinental Hotel to Open in London

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a 20-year management contract with Splendid Hotel Group for a new 254-room, six-story InterContinental property in the center of London. The InterContinental London Westminster is set to open in late 2011.

InterContinental London Westminster will occupy the former Queen Anne's Chambers, originally built in the nineteenth century. The 120,000-square-foot freehold site is currently office and retail space.

The hotel will be the second InterContinental hotel in the city. InterContinental London Park Lane was first opened in 1975, and reopened following extensive renovations in 2006 in celebration of the brand's sixtieth anniversary.

Kirk Kinsell, IHG's president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said that the brand is adding 5,000 rooms in the UK in the next two to three years. The InterContinental London Westminster is expected to open in time for the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

Splendid Hotel Group is an existing IHG franchisee with Holiday Inn hotels in Manchester and London. The new signing is its biggest acquisition to date.

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