IHG is pulling 1,800 rooms across Germany, Belgium, and France out of PentaHotels and into Holiday Inn, voco, and Garner... and 84% of their European room openings last year were conversions, not new builds. The question isn't whether the math works for IHG. It's whether the owners trading one flag for another are buying a distribution engine or a fee machine.
Royal Orchid Hotels signed a master franchise deal to open 125 Hampton by Hiltons across India by 2035, and the stock popped 10%. The question isn't whether India needs mid-market hotels... it's whether a company that just sold a subsidiary for $3.4 million can finance 75 greenfield builds in nine years.
IHG's Garner brand hit 100 hotels globally in under three years and just signed its fourth property in India... a 45-key midscale in a Tier 2 industrial town. The speed is impressive. The question is whether the economics work for the owner holding the bag in Bhiwadi.
