IHG plans Holiday Inn for New Zealand

IHG is slated to open a new Holiday Inn in Queenstown Remarkables Park following the signing of an agreement with property owner QLong Investments Ltd.

Set to open in early 2021, the property will be a brand flagship in New Zealand.

The 182-room hotel will be close to Queenstown Airport and The Remarkables Ski Field, and include an all-day dining and bar venue, as well as meeting facilities and a gym.

Abhijay Sandilya, IHG’s senior director of development-Australasia, said the company's existing hotels in Queenstown are performing "extremely well," and that this new property is expected to complement both them and an upcoming Holiday Inn Express, slated to open in 2020.

"Queenstown is a tourism mecca, attracting more than 3.6 million visitor nights annually with an expanding events calendar that attracts domestic and overseas visitors," said Yigang Wang, director of QLong Investments. "We expect this momentum to continue and are confident that Holiday Inn Queenstown Remarkables Park will contribute to that success."

IHG has put a focus on regional growth in Australia and New Zealand, with several recent Holiday Inn signings across Australia, including in Wagga Wagga, Melbourne Dandenong, Geelong, Melbourne Ringwood, Melbourne Coburg and Melbourne Werribee. All of these developments will be new-build.

IHG currently has 47 hotels operating under four brands in Australasia, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Voco and Holiday Inn Express, with another 29 in the pipeline, including Hotel Indigo and Even Hotels.