Dive Brief:
- IHG Hotels & Resorts’ midscale conversion brand Garner announced openings of two new U.S. locations, as well as plans for global expansion, on Wednesday.
- Garner hotels are now open in Macon, Georgia, and Oklahoma City, with additional signings in Topeka, Kansas; Provo, Utah; Brenham, Texas; Mahwah, New Jersey; Dowel, Illinois; Gillette, Wyoming; and Clarksville, Tennessee.
- The brand, launched under a year ago, is expanding rapidly, with plans to open more than 500 hotels in the U.S. over the next decade. On Wednesday, IHG announced that additional franchising availability in Mexico and Canada will be available by March, and plans to expand elsewhere are underway.
Dive Insight:
Karen Gilbride, IHG’s vice president for Garner, Avid Hotels and Atwell Suites, told Hotel Dive that the speed of Garner’s expansion is due to “taking a flexible approach to these conversions.”
“Every time we have an owner who says ‘I'm interested,’ [...] our team will actually visit that hotel, and they will write a custom property improvement plan,” she shared. Some conversion properties were able to open quickly due to having pre-existing design, furniture and amenities that would work with the Garner brand.
“What's been really exciting is that, yes, it's established owners that are coming to Garner but it's also a lot of new owners to IHG,” Gilbride added, noting that the team who opened the brand’s first hotel in Auburn, Washington, was new to IHG.
Also opened by a first-time IHG owner, Georgia-based Sapphire 2021 LLC, the 63-room Garner Hotel Macon Wes is adjacent to the largest indoor pickleball facility in the world.
Garner Hotel Oklahoma City – Quail Springs is operated by longtime IHG owner Champion Hotels. The 68-room property is located near Quail Springs Mall, Lake Hefner and Remington Park Racetrack and Casino Area.
Garner also announced plans to expand across IHG’s Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa regions. IHG has signed a Letter of Intent with Aze Management Partners to convert three hotels to the Garner brand in Osaka, Japan.
In its latest earnings report, IHG said it expects Garner to be a key driver of growth for the company in the U.S. this year.
