InterContinental Hotels to Launch Indigo Brand in Russia
InterContinental Hotels to Launch Indigo Brand in Russia
InterContinental Hotels Group signed a franchise agreement to introduce its newest brand, Hotel Indigo, to Russia next year. The 119-room Hotel Indigo St. Petersburg Tchaikovsky is set to open in summer 2012. Vega Ltd owns the 101-year old townhouse, previously an unbranded hotel, which will also house a restaurant and a bar.
The hotel is on Tchaikovskogo Street in the east of the city center, 20 minutes by road from Pulkovo International Airport, and five minutes from Moskovsky train station. It’s next to the Summer Gardens and the Stieglitz Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts, ranked one of the most important museums in St Petersburg.
A short walk from the Hermitage Museum, the Russian Museum and the Winter Palace, with easy access to the famous street, Nevsky Prospect, the hotel is in an ideal location for guests wishing to take advantage of the city’s heritage.
The company announced it planned to have 100 hotels open across Russia and the CIS by 2020, creating 8,000 new jobs for local people in addition to the 2,500 already working at hotels from the IHG family of brands across Russia and the CIS. IHG outlined its growth plans for Russia which included introducing the Hotel Indigo brand to Moscow and St. Petersburg where IHG sees significant potential for growth.
In addition to next summer’s launch of the Hotel Indigo brand in Russia, IHG’s luxury InterContinental brand returns to Russia later this year after a decade away with the opening of InterContinental Moscow Tverskaya. The 203-room hotel will open on Russia’s most famous street, creating 260 new jobs for local people.
Last month, IHG announced it was opening the Moscow branch of the IHG Academy in February 2012 to deliver international standard hospitality training in Russia. There will be 15 to 20 places on the three-year course, which will see students spending four days a week in hotels from the IHG family of brands, and one day a week at the Moscow State University of Tourism.
