Avani Hotels just launched a global book club across 15 properties with curated reading lists and author events, calling it a redefinition of luxury travel. The last time I saw a brand redefine luxury with a furniture arrangement, it was a fireplace lobby renovation that nobody used past week two.
IHG wants to triple its India footprint to 400 hotels by 2031, and Holiday Inn is doing most of the heavy lifting. The question nobody at headquarters seems to be asking is whether a brand built for American interstate highways can carry the weight of India's most complex leisure markets.
IHG dropped a 419-key voco and a 529-key Kimpton within fifteen blocks and fifteen days of each other in Manhattan. The brand story sounds great. The owner math is where it gets interesting.
