It was the Friday of the 10th Formula 1 weekend in Singapore, one assumes all visitors coming to town that weekend are here for the race but no, not the new group CEO of Intercontinental Hotels Group, Keith Barr; Barr was making a lightning visit to Singapore and the region to 'spend time with the teams in Asia, Africa and Middle East', he has to.

Right - Keith Barr: “This new reservations system will change the way we go to market.”

IHG recently announced it is carving out a new region combining Europe, Middle East, Asia & Africa (EMEAA) that will be headquartered in the U.K.. It will “operate through strong sub-regional divisions based in a number of locations, including Singapore, to ensure the business remains close to hotel owners, guests and colleagues.”

By bringing two strong, established regions together as one, the company will focus on further growth through increased agility and effectiveness, it said.

With the restructure came the resignation of longtime IHG stalwart Jan Smits, the current AMEA CEO, regarded as the face of IHG to owners in Asia. It is understood Smits, after 30 years with the company, had also decided to move on.

When the news came out, messages immediately arrived in my Whatsapp. “Crazy, no company has ever succeeded running Asia from London,” said a former IHG employee in the region.

On the surface, it doesn’t look like a rational move. When everyone is putting more focus and resources in Asia, IHG is doing the opposite. I asked Barr if he was one of those who liked to buck the trend and he said yes.

“We believe in bucking the trend. After the financial crisis, when I was here in Asia, China was part of APAC but I recognised in 2008 that China was going to be huge and we made it a standalone division, and we have strengthened business across Asia.”

Added Barr, who became group CEO on July 1 after clearly impressing the board with his performance as CEO of Greater China and then its chief commercial officer, “We are not going away. Europe is not taking over AMEA, AMEA is not taking over Europe. It’s a matter of reallocating resources. We will have stronger market presence, maybe not corporate presence. Regions are constructs companies make.

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