InterContinental Hotel Group want to expand its Holiday Inn Express brand to make further inroads into the emerging market for business travel in China at the less expensive end. Yes, yes, it was this group that was complaining that its brand name was one of the most stolen in China but perhaps it has a plan to deal with that.

Holiday Inn Express places itself between full-service four-star properties and branded budget hotels and will mainly go for domestic business travelers.

The company is planning to open 125 hotels by 2008.

Kieron Ritchard, vice-president (strategy) of the group’s China business, said, ‘The service provided by a four-star hotel could be compared to a reasonably flat and long curve as it does lots of things and focuses on one thing in particular, while budget hotels have a value curve that is flat but shorter because they don’t have a gym, full-service restaurants or room service.’ That seems a very complicated explanation of what is a very simple to understand situation but there may be levels of which we are not aware.

Holiday Inn Express seems to be both sides of the curve with luxury bathrooms, wireless and cable networks free of charge, and, a bit of a grabber this, a free pot of the hotel’s special brand, Senses Tea.
Source: English People.com.cn