InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has unveiled its 20th brand.
It has acquired the Ruby hospitality brand and its related intellectual property for €110.5 million.
Ruby is a premium urban lifestyle brand situated in major city destinations.
IHG expects to rapidly expand the brand globally.
Established in 2013, the brand currently operates 20 hotels (3,483 rooms) in major cities across Europe with another 10 pipeline hotels (2,235 rooms).
There are nine hotels open in Germany (Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart), three in London, three in Vienna, two in Switzerland (Geneva and Zurich), and one in Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The pipeline hotels are set to open over the next three years in Edinburgh, Marseille, Rome and Stockholm.
Ruby hotels have a ‘Lean Luxury’ approach to hospitality, it says.
Ruby will extend IHG’s appeal to modern, lifestyle-focused travellers, IHG says, and offer hotel owners a cost-efficient conversion-friendly premium hotel concept.
The brand says it has achieved a net system size compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% over the last five years.
IHG expects to grow the brand with other hotel owners in Europe and globally.
It expects to have the Ruby brand ready for development in the US by the end of the year.
IHG is targeting the Ruby brand to grow to more than 120 hotels over the next 10 years.
