InterContinental plans more China hotels

[SHANGHAI] InterContinental Hotels Group plc, the world's largest provider of hotel accommodation, plans to open "at least the same" number of hotels in China next year as 2013, even as growth in room revenue slows.

The hotel operator, which also runs the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands in Greater China, opened 17 hotels this year to the end of the third quarter in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, which together are its second-largest market outside the US, said chief executive officer Richard Solomons.

China's hotel market slowed after the government banned officials from spending money reserved for meetings on banquets or luxury accommodation, as the Communist Party battles public discontent over wasting of government funds. The company, which first entered China in 1984, plans to hire staff and open more than 170 new hotels in the world's second-largest economy that is heading for the weakest expansion since 1999.