IHG HOTELS & RESORTS recently opened the 110-key Crowne Plaza Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, its 50th hotel in the country. The company signed 18 new hotels across its brand portfolio in 2024, with 30 percent of the signings in the premium and luxury segments in India.
The Lucknow property, serving business and leisure travelers, offers 40,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a gym and an outdoor pool, IHG said in a statement.
“This is a significant milestone that reflects our commitment to the country," said Haitham Mattar, IHG’s managing director, MEA and Southwest Asia. "While mainstream brands such as Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Garner remain our growth drivers, we are strengthening our premium and luxury portfolio with established brands such as Crowne Plaza, InterContinental and Six Senses."
IHG currently has 50 hotels operating across five brands in India and a pipeline of nearly 70 hotels set to open in the next two to three years, the statement said. With this pipeline, IHG plans to more than double its portfolio in India over five years, tapping into travel demand and domestic tourism. The pipeline includes five InterContinental hotels, 10 Crowne Plaza and five voco hotels set to open in the next two to five years.
Crowne Plaza recently released its second white paper, "Leading the Charge in Blended Travel," highlighting a shift in traveler preferences toward integrating work and leisure, the statement said. The study identified four trends: Improve and Grow, Mind-Body Equity, The New Personal Travel Economy and Intentional Togetherness. The research showed 33 percent of Indian travelers have experienced blended travel, the highest among surveyed countries, indicating India’s role in this shift.
The Denham, Buckinghamshire-based company posted a 3.3 percent increase in global RevPAR for the first quarter of 2025, driven by 3.5 percent growth in the Americas.
