Dive Brief:

• IHG Hotels & Resorts, in partnership with Scarlett Hotel Group and Trailbreak Partners, commenced construction on the 391-room InterContinental San Antonio hotel, situated along the city’s River Walk. 
• The hotel project is a $158 million redevelopment of the former Wyndham Hotels & Resorts property at 111 E. Pecan St. in San Antonio’s central business district. Upon completion in late 2024, the hotel will offer new meeting and event space and updated amenities. 
• With the hotel, IHG’s InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand enters the San Antonio market at a time when business travel demand for the city is rising. The luxury hotel brand adds the property to a global portfolio of 211 open properties and 93 in the pipeline.

Dive Insight:

InterContinental San Antonio has been in the works for two years, following SHG and Trailbreak Partners’ joint venture acquisition of the property in June 2021. 

At the time of the acquisition, Trailbreak Partners Principal Jordan Scharg noted the significance of bringing the InterContinental brand to San Antonio, which he said “continues to be a leading city for conferences.” 

In 2021, 4.6 million business travelers came to San Antonio, according to tourism bureau Visit San Antonio’s 2021 San Antonio Economic Impact Study, conducted by Trinity University. The visitor count was up by 1.3 million people, or 40%, compared to 2020 but still down 2.5 million people compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. 

So far this year, the city has hosted major corporate events, including the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW international trade show. Leading up to the event, Visit San Antonio estimated it would generate roughly $614 million in international visitor spending for the city over three years and drive 395,000 additional international visitors to the city.

“San Antonio is a growing market, with very little new luxury supply introduced in the past few years,” Matt Frankiewicz, SVP, Development, Americas for IHG Hotels & Resorts, told Hotel Dive. “As we work to enhance our growing luxury and lifestyle portfolio in the Americas, we saw a unique opportunity to capture the unaccommodated demand in the luxury space — both for leisure travelers as well as the city’s robust business and convention industry.” 

InterContinental San Antonio is slated to accommodate premium business travel with 40,000 square feet of meeting space and multiple restaurant and bar options, including flexible co-working spaces by day that will transform into private dining spaces at night. 

Located adjacent to the Weston Centre and near the Henry B. González Convention Center, the hotel also will include a rooftop pool and outdoor gathering space. New bespoke paintings, sculptures and furniture will be incorporated throughout the lobby and guest rooms as well.

“We can’t wait for the public and convention planners to experience the incredible space and amenities that this property will add to the community,” SHG Principal and Co-Founder Zio Pekovic said in IHG’s project announcement.