(英文原文：Business Traveller)
洲際酒店集團酒店及度假村在日本增加了其在智選假日酒店品牌下的第一家酒店。
前大阪禦堂筋B酒店已被重新命名為IHG的精選服務品牌，併計劃在未來六個月內進行“全面翻新”。
洲際酒店集團表示，多年來，它一直致力於在日本推出智選假日酒店產品，但「一直在等待，直到它擁有完美的資產、AAA 級位置和理想的合作夥伴」。
IHG Hotels and Resorts has added its first property under the Holiday Inn Express brand in Japan.
The former B Osaka Midosuji hotel has been reflagged under IHG’s select service brand, with a “full refurbishment” planned over the next six months.
IHG said it had been working towards launching the Holiday Inn Express offering in Japan for several years, but had “taken its time and waited until it had the perfect asset, an AAA location and the ideal partner with whom to launch”.
The partner in question is owner Baring Private Equity Asia, and the location is Osaka’s Midosuji Boulevard, close to the city’s Shinsaibashi retail and Namba entertainment neighbourhoods, as well as Osaka’s main Yodoyabashi financial district.
Holiday Inn Express Osaka City Centre Midosuji features 306 rooms, as well as The Express restaurant overlooking Midosuji.
IHG currently operates 37 properties across Japan under its Intercontinental, Kimpton, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn Express brands, as well as co-branded hotels in partnership with ANA.
The group has a further 11 Japanese properties in the pipeline, including the Regent Kyoto and the 1,000-room Appil Kogen Resort which will feature ANA Intercontinental, ANA Crowne Plaza and ANA Holiday Inn hotels.