UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) will open five new hotels with 1,434 hotel rooms in the Middle East by 2013, says Phil Kasselis, vice-president of development in the Middle East and Africa.

IHG is overseeing development of two hotels scheduled for completion in 2011. The first of which is a 107-room business hotel for Riyadh. The local Al-Hokair Group is developing the project with IHG consulting on design and providing operation.    

IHG is also consulting on design and operation of a new Crowne Plaza in Amman, which is also set for completion in 2011. The hotel will include 420 rooms and is being developed by the Jordanian Social Security Corporation. IHG will serve as management consultant on the finished property.  

In 2012, IHG expects to complete a 121-room boutique hotel in Beirut city centre. The local Soligran Hotel is developing the project with IHG consulting on design and management.

Two InterContinental hotels will open in Tripoli and Damascus in 2013. In Libya, IHG will act as developer and design consultant on a 394-room luxury property.

In Syria, IHG will partner with the local office of Kuwait’s Mak Hospitality and Touristic Investments to develop the hotel in the Old Town section of Damascus.  

The IHG portfolio of brands includes:

• InterContinental Hotels
• Crowne Plaza
• Hotel Indigo
• Holiday Inn
• Holiday Inn Express
• Candlewood Suites
• Staybridge Suites

IHG is the world’s largest hotel company in terms of rooms available and its Middle East portfolio includes 76 properties, 36 of which are currently in the pipeline. According to Kasselis, IHG has also begun targeting sub-Saharan Africa, with three hotels planned for Nigeria and another planned for Angola.