Holiday Inn plans more hotels in Las Vegas Valley

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.

InterContinental Hotels Group Plc will be opening three Holiday Inn franchise locations across the Las Vegas Valley over the next couple of years and is also eyeing the Strip for a potential hotel site.

The London-based company -- which owns and licenses a number of hotel brands including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites -- expects to open a Holiday Inn Express with 100 rooms near the corner of Ann Road and Interstate 95 in late 2006. A Holiday Inn and a Holiday Inn Express, with 144 rooms and 110 rooms, respectively, will open at the intersection of Rainbow Boulevard and Sobb Avenue in the southwest area of the valley. The Holiday Inn will open about six months after the Express hotel, which will open before the end of 2006, the company said.

Holiday Inn is a full-service hotel with a restaurant while the Express brand has fewer amenities.

Brown Kessler, vice president of franchise sales for InterContinental Hotels Group in the United States, said the company also is looking at the possibility of a more visible location on the Las Vegas Strip, though no deals have been signed yet.

"We definitely want representation in the convention center and Strip area of Las Vegas," Kessler said.

Any of the company's brands could be considered for the Strip, he said. InterContinental recently formed a partnership with Joie de Vivre Hospitality, a San Francisco-based company that owns more than 25 boutique hotels in the Bay Area. The companies intend to launch several properties nationwide under the "Hotel Indigo" brand for "style-conscious" travelers.

The brand will be considered in "high profile urban markets" such as Boston, Miami and Los Angeles. The company doesn't have any deals yet in Las Vegas, InterContinental spokeswoman Charlotte Wood said. The first Indigo opened in Atlanta in October and a second will open in Chicago in March.

InterContinental recently opened a Holiday Inn Express with 139 rooms at Russell Road and Interstate 15 near a collection of other nongaming hotels.

The company owns, manages, leases or franchises more than 3,500 hotels and 538,000 guest rooms.