Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

IHG buys Regent Hotels (all six of them) – why?

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

We have given some coverage recently to IHG’s much-publicised hunt to buy a ‘true’ luxury hotel brand.  There was much speculation that they wanted Belmond as we reported recently.

IHG has clearly failed to persuade any true luxury brand to sell.

Instead, perhaps more out of desperation than anything else, it has acquired 51% of Regent Hotels & Resorts for $39m, ie peanuts.  For comparison, the refurbishment of InterContinental Park Lane a few years ago cost three times that.

The reasons it is so cheap is that Regent Hotels & Resorts only runs six properties in:

  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Chongqing
  • Porto Montenegro (looks nice – see below – but not exactly prime tourism country)
  • Singapore
  • Taipei

That’s it.  The pipeline only consists of Jakarta, Harbin and Phu Quoc.

Here’s the thing.  These are not true luxury hotels in the Mandarin Oriental model.  They are perfectly pleasant and their average TripAdvisor ranking is usually higher than the InterCon in the same city, but that is not the same as buying Aman.

The best Regent is probably Berlin, but this was a Four Seasons until a few years ago so it clearly has a great hard product.  In Singapore, the Regent is actually managed by Four Seasons.  IHG will presumably move to terminate this contract but that is unlikely to improve the hotel.

I’m not entirely convinced, as the press release says, that “IHG has a deep understanding of how to protect what makes the Regent brand so unique and special”.  Kimpton Hotels did at least have a ‘special sauce’ (but everyone complained that IHG would wreck the ‘special sauce’, so admittedly they probably can’t win!).

I could understand it if IHG had bought the brand with the intention of folding it into InterContinental.  That would have made sense, albeit it would not have added many new markets.  Instead, it intends to roll it out with a view of taking the chain to 40 hotels.

The real question is ‘how?’.  Regent Hotels is a far weaker brand than InterContinental and the properties are interchangeable.  The only logic would be to rebrand the InterContinental resort properties in Asia as Regent.

There is also the issue of Regent Cruises.  Once part of the same business, but no longer, the cruise line not only shares the name but has an identical logo.

And a potentially bad move …..

To bulk up the chain, InterContinental Hong Kong is to be rebranded as Regent Hong Kong when it reopens post refurbishment.  It was originally a Regent when it opened so there is a some logic here.  However, taking InterContinental Hong Kong out of the IC brand is a hit to InterContinental Ambassador members who found it a popular place to redeem their free weekend night vouchers.

We obviously need to see what IHG can make of this.  Even Belmond would have been a better fit in terms of building out a separate ‘tourism rather than business’ focused luxury brand – Regent Hotels only makes sense to me if it was to be re-branded, which it isn’t.

Having spent 16 years of my career in M&A, this feels like a panic buy in response to too-public promises that had been made about an acquisition.  IHG cannot even begin to buy the remaining 49% until 2026, which means that the existing shareholders will be the main winners from any growth in the chain.


IHG One Rewards update – January 2024:

Get bonus points: Our article on IHG’s January 2024 bonus promotion is here. You will receive double base points on every cash stay between 1st January and 31st January 2024. Click here to register.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

You get a 100% bonus when you buy IHG One Rewards points by 2nd February 2024. Click here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Comments (34)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Tim Rogers says:

    In what sense is the IC Hong Kong closed right now? When is the re-opening as Regent?

  • Oliver says:

    Well, there’s this as well.

    “Intercontinental Hotels Group has teamed up with a property investor to participate in the £1.2 billion auction of the company behind the Principal and De Vere hotel brands.

    The Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza operator and its unnamed partner are understood to be among a small number of remaining bidders for the Principal Hotel Company, which is being sold by Starwood Capital Group, the American investment firm, through UBS.”

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/holiday-inn-operator-intercontinental-hotels-group-joins-1-2bn-race-for-luxury-hotels-ghdj57w0h

    • Rob says:

      Interesting. Principal is exceptionally good and these would be outstanding additions to the UK portfolio.

  • will says:

    I’ve been to the Regent in Montenegro and thought it was absolutely excellent. Hopefully bookable on IHG points sometime soon!

    • Rob says:

      Is there anything to do there? Jamie (who you may have met at the Christmas party, he took the photos) works on a super-yacht moored in the harbour there for half the year and I keep thinking of going down for a bit, but he works seven days a week and I’d need to entertain myself during the day.

      • william merrett says:

        I spent 3 days there in between rafting in Bosnia and visiting Dubrovnik. Not a huge amount to do around porto montenegro except lazing around at the beach/pool.

        The yacht club is a lovely place to spend a day by the pool and I remember the bar being quite swanky at night.

        We had a car and went driving around and the surrounding areas were breathtaking, if I went again I’d get on a boat and go for a trip around the bay.

        Good dining as well from memory.

        • william merrett says:

          I’ve considered returning a couple of times but other places came up. Wouldn’t hesitate to go back there if I was looking for a relaxing 3 night break though.

  • Peter D says:

    To be clear, the Ambassador weekend certificate is a BoGo not a straight free weekend night. Extend the certs to be accepted at IC and. Regents worldwide.

  • Leo says:

    What’s the future for the Ambassador scheme if ICs are no longer the top of the IHG tree? Having just got home from the US, I think that a good many of the Kimptons now redeemable with points are more attractive proposals than ICs for less…

    • Rob says:

      Short term I would guess Regent gets rolled in. But, yes, IC is opening a can of worms here especially if good IC hotels move across. No mover and shaker wants to stay in the second-best chain …..

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.