39 hotels opened throughout the region in 2012 and it reported a successful year for hotel signings, with the company adding a further 48 hotels, 7,012 rooms, to its European pipeline.

IHG’s Chief Development Officer for Europe, Robert Shepherd, said the openings and signings were a testament to the strength of IHG’s brands and reflected the company’s successful growth strategy for Europe.

“Europe is IHG’s second largest region and we continue to see strong growth opportunities here.  In 2012, our strategy was focused on driving scale in key markets – UK, Germany and Russia – which proved highly successful, as our additions to pipeline were up 22 per cent on 2011 and we opened the highest number of hotels for four years. We’ll continue to expand in 2013, not only in these markets but in key cities throughout the region as well.”

The 7,012 rooms signed in Europe in 2012 are spread across the UK, Germany, Russia, France, Turkey, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Israel and Algeria. Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express continue to lead the growth in Europe, accounting for over 70 per cent of 2012 signings. IHG’s boutique brand Hotel Indigo also grew, with 6 signings throughout the region.

IHG’s 39 new hotel openings were in nine countries throughout Europe. The United Kingdom saw the highest number of openings, with 20 new hotels.  Holiday Inn Express led the openings, with 18 new properties welcoming guests across the region. Thirteen new Holiday Inn hotels were opened, and boutique hotel brand Hotel Indigo opened its doors in five new locations. IHG also celebrated the opening of the UK’s second InterContinental Hotel, InterContinental London Westminster, in November.

The company reported robust performance throughout Europe at its preliminary results.  RevPAR increased 1.7%, with 1.2% rate growth and fourth quarter RevPAR increased 1.2%. Despite challenging economic conditions across Europe, RevPAR during the year grew by 2.5% in the UK and by 5.4% in Germany, where the industry benefited from a busy trade fair schedule.

Continuing on from last year’s success, IHG has got off to a great start in 2013, signing a multiple development agreement for Holiday Inn Express in Russia, which, when open, will double the size of its estate there as it stands today and introduce the Holiday Inn Express brand to the region for the first time.

The 15 new hotels will add approximately 2,250 rooms, when signed, to IHG’s current Russia development pipeline of over 1,700 rooms (5 hotels).

IHG has 628 hotels (102,027 rooms) open throughout Europe, with 91 hotels (15,184 rooms) in the pipeline.