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TRAVEL<br />
InterContinental ® Lyon - Hotel Dieu<br />
Willemijn elaborates, “France remains a very attractive country for<br />
tourists and the luxury segment is doing well. People associate<br />
France with luxury goods, fashion, fine wines and so on. In a<br />
sense they carry that on to their hotel stay too, so their luxury<br />
experience doesn’t end in the shops, it continues to their choice<br />
of accommodation. The iconic InterContinental brand in France<br />
is associated with luxury and level of service and as we grow we<br />
continue to strengthen that reputation.”<br />
It is that reputation that secured two of this year’s landmark signings<br />
for the brand. Signed in June, InterContinental ® Lyon - Hotel Dieu is a<br />
thrilling addition to <strong>IHG</strong>’s portfolio in Europe. Due to open in Autumn<br />
2018, it will operate under a management agreement with Crédit<br />
Agricole Assurances and will be developed by Eiffage. Part of a multipurpose<br />
development at the epicentre of a district undergoing total<br />
renovation, the project has been years in the making. <strong>IHG</strong>’s Director<br />
of <strong>Development</strong> France and North Africa, Brice Marguet explains,<br />
“It all started with a business lunch with the Lord Mayor at the MIPIM<br />
conference in Cannes. He invited ten hotel representatives to discuss<br />
the upcoming RFP to select a developer and a brand to operate the<br />
future Hotel Dieu. I attended it and promoted InterContinental as the<br />
right brand for the area. We had meetings, we had presentations,<br />
we focused on the InterContinental brand’s impressive estate in the<br />
country and after some time that’s how we got it.”<br />
“Signing InterContinental ® Lyon - Hotel Dieu<br />
and InterContinental ® Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel<br />
absolutely positions <strong>IHG</strong> ® as the leader<br />
in the luxury sector in France.”<br />
“Willemijn Geels, Associate Vice President <strong>Development</strong>,<br />
Northern and Eastern Europe, <strong>IHG</strong><br />
“<br />
That impressive estate is what helped the brand win in Bordeaux too.<br />
Due to open by the end of the year, the glorious InterContinental ®<br />
Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel will operate under a management<br />
agreement with Financière Immobilière Bordelaise. Dating back<br />
to 1776, the 130-room icon occupies a prime location on Place de<br />
la Comédie in the city that’s just been awarded Top Destination by<br />
European Best Destinations 2015. As the second project to get the<br />
thumbs up within a month, it has been a summer to celebrate at <strong>IHG</strong>.<br />
“Signing InterContinental Lyon - Hotel Dieu and InterContinental<br />
Bordeaux - Le Grand Hotel absolutely positions <strong>IHG</strong> as the leader in<br />
the luxury sector in France” Willemijn continues. “The fact we have<br />
very well-known historical properties in Paris, Cannes and Marseille<br />
spread the word for the InterContinental brand. They definitely helped<br />
us secure the latest properties.”<br />
France’s love affair with luxury tourism has gone from strength to<br />
strength. The long-anticipated affluent Chinese guest has started<br />
arriving and initiatives like the successful ‘Do you speak touriste?’<br />
campaign by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry have<br />
gone a long way to enhance France’s position as a tourist-friendly<br />
must-visit destination. With hospitality competition fiercer than<br />
ever, <strong>IHG</strong> can be particularly proud of the InterContinental estate<br />
across a country that can claim the third largest income in the world<br />
from tourism*.<br />
* Luxury Society, February 2014<br />
07
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