Dive Brief:
- InterContinental Hotels & Resorts will open a 700-room hotel in Orlando, Florida, in 2028, parent company IHG Hotels & Resorts announced Tuesday.
- The property, situated on International Drive, will offer five restaurants and bars, 15,000 square feet of spa and wellness amenities and 106,000 square feet of meetings and events space.
- Orlando, long a major leisure travel destination, has also been a popular destination for meetings and group travel in recent years. Part of IHG’s ongoing luxury and lifestyle segment push, InterContinental Orlando will cater both leisure and business travelers.
Dive Insight:
The Orlando property’s owner, New York-based real estate developer Flag Luxury Group, is developing the hotel alongside Florida’s Unicorp National Developments.
Of the hotel’s 700 rooms, 84 will be suites. Food and beverage offerings will include a full-service restaurant, a specialty restaurant, a lobby bar and lounge, a coffee shop and a pool bar and grill.
In addition to its 106,000 square feet of meeting and event space, the hotel will offer a business center and the brand’s signature Club InterContinental lounge.
Jolyon Bulley, IHG’s CEO for the Americas region, said the hotel will “be an incredible addition to our luxury and lifestyle portfolio.”
IHG has been growing its number of luxury and lifestyle hotels, which consist of six brands, amid heightened demand for the segment.
The company’s luxury InterContinental brand, in particular, has played a major role in that push. In October, IHG launched a “brand evolution” for InterContinental intended to cater to modern luxury travelers, who are seeking more culturally rich experiences. Earlier this summer, IHG opened another InterContinental hotel in San Antonio.
The Orlando market has seen a flurry of hotel activity of late as companies look to benefit from heightened leisure and group travel to the city.
In May, Cvent named Orlando the top meetings destination in North America out of 50 markets. And earlier this week, Hyatt Hotels Corp. announced the $1 billion sale of Hyatt Regency Orlando, whose new owners plan to develop a Grand Hyatt alongside it in a bid to capitalize on meetings and events travel.
In January, Hilton’s luxury Conrad brand made its Orlando debut with a 433-room hotel on the newly built Evermore Orlando Resort.
