How many brands does one hotel company need?
In the case of IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) at least 20, it appears.
IHG has just acquired the "urban lifestyle" Ruby hospitality brand and its related intellectual property for €110.5 million.
Ruby is a premium urban lifestyle brand with properties situated in major European city destinations.
IHG expects to rapidly expand the brand globally, news portal Travel Mole reports.
Established in 2013, the brand currently operates 20 hotels (3,483 rooms) in major cities across Europe with another 10 hotels in the pipeline (2,235 rooms).
There are nine hotels open in Germany (Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart), three in London, three in Vienna, two in Switzerland (Geneva and Zurich), and one each in Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The pipeline hotels are set to open over the next three years in cities including Edinburgh, Marseille, Rome and Stockholm.
Ruby hotels have a "Lean Luxury" approach, whatever that jargon means.
Ruby will extend IHG’s appeal to modern, lifestyle-focused travellers, IHG says, and offer hotel owners a "cost-efficient conversion-friendly premium hotel concept".
IHG expects to grow the brand with other hotel owners in Europe and globally and expects to have the Ruby brand ready for development in the US by the end of the year.
IHG says it is targeting the Ruby brand to grow to more than 120 hotels over the next 10 years.
Among its first tasks will certainly be improving the clunky Ruby website.
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