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Holiday Inn military program expands
Holiday Inn parent the InterContinental Hotels Group is adding seven hotels to its list of properties on U.S. military installations, including the first Staybridge Suites, on Fort Belvoir, outside of Washington, DC; four Candlewood Suites, on Fort Huachuca, AZ, Fort Meade, MD, Fort Riley, KS, and Yuma Proving Ground, AZ; and two Holiday Inn Express properties, on Fort Leavenworth, KS, and Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico.
Since the privatization program began in 2009, six Holiday Inn Express hotels (1,321 guest rooms) have opened on U.S. military posts and another eight (1,550 guest rooms) are under development.
The Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites extended-stay hotels are the flags for new-build hotels in the IHG Army Hotels portfolio.
Currently under development on U.S. military posts are a Staybridge Suites hotel (141 guest rooms) and five Candlewood Suites properties (884 guest rooms), including a 310-room hotel on Joint Base San Antonio that will be the world’s largest Candlewood Suites hotel when it opens.
Also in 2013, newly-renovated historical buildings on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall and Fort Sill, used as lodging facilities, were officially renamed the Historia Collection, due to the historical significance of the buildings on these posts.
In all, IHG expects to have 76 properties on 39 Army bases in its IHG Army Hotels portfolio.
The military teamed with IHG after an internal survey found the Army’s lodging for families and guests was in desperate need of repair, and renovations would take 25 years and cost $1 billion.
IHG’s marching orders are to take over the management of those properties that can be renovated, and tear down and rebuild those that cannot.
The Privatization of Army Lodging program gives IHG 50-year leases to maintain and renovate the properties.
Guest lodging is used by service members between assignments, trainees, government workers, and visiting family members.
Room rates at the new hotel rates will be based on 75% of the federal government’s per diem allowance for lodging, somewhere between $134 and $149 this fiscal year.
Guests staying at IHG Army Hotels are eligible to earn points in IHG’s loyalty program, and so far on-post guests have been awarded approximately 555 million Rewards Club points.
By Cheryl Rosen
Cheryl
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