InterContinental Hotels Group Signs Franchise Contracts With The Roberts Hotels Group
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InterContinental Hotels Group Signs Franchise Contracts With The Roberts Hotels Group
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Category: North America & West Indies / Carribean islands
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2006-05-15
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [Lon: IHG; NYSE: IHG (ADRs)], the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, announces it has signed franchise license agreements for two properties with the Roberts Hotels Group – the Crowne Plaza Atlanta/Marietta and the Holiday Inn Houston-Southwest. In addition to the two franchise contracts, IHG’s The Hotel Management Group has signed a contract to manage the Crowne Plaza Atlanta/Marietta.
“We are proud to have such a successful family-owned, African American entrepreneurial company become a franchisee,” said Roslyn Dickerson, regional senior vice president, Diversity, the Americas, IHG. “The Roberts Companies, based in St. Louis, MO is run by brothers, Michael V. Roberts, chairman and CEO and Steven C. Roberts, president and COO, who together have built a $650 million, 62-company empire over the last two decades through hard work, focus and dedication.”
A nationally renowned organization, the Roberts Companies is a multi-faceted enterprise that contains a myriad of diversified entrepreneurial endeavors across the country and the Bahamas, including a group of five hotels and conference centers, urban shopping centers, office buildings, residential developments, a management consulting firm, America’s eighth largest broadcast and telecommunications tower company and an aviation company which chartering out their Gulfstream III and Hawker jets. The growth and success of the Roberts Companies is the result of its founders, the Roberts brothers, relentless pursuit of business opportunities in a wide variety of disciplines and their extraordinary ability to overcome organizational and financial challenges.
“We attribute much of our success in the lodging and hospitality industry to choosing the precise business associates,” said Mike Roberts. “We selected to franchise with IHG because of the benefits associated with its Minority Owner Development Program, the strength of InterContinental’s Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands; additionally, the proven performance and reputation of their Hotel Management Group was very impressive.”
Continuing to diversify IHG’s already diverse franchisee base is a priority. African-American, Hispanic and Native Americans have long been successful entrepreneurs and franchisees, but they have historically not been as involved in the lodging industry.
According to Dickerson, “This is a tremendous chance for me to pursue one of my passions – developing the minority lodging leaders of tomorrow. The main objective of our program Minority Owner Development Program is not to just increase the number of minority franchisees we have -- it is to ensure that our new owners have the tools they need to be a successful members of the IHG family and the future leaders of the industry.”
The IHG Minority Owner Development Program is designed to attract more African American, Hispanic and Native American participants to IHG’s already diverse group of owners and operators. The program is centered on developing minority hotel owners and offers training and financial incentives.
According to Tom Murray, COO, the Americas, IHG, “The Hotel Management Group is looking forward to partnering with the Roberts brothers by managing their Crowne Plaza property to help drive the best returns possible and to further develop the depth of the Roberts’ hotel management team.”
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