IHG to open three midpriced hotels in Osaka under Garner brand

U.K.-based hotelier CEO confident it can double Japan properties in few years

IHG's midrange Garner brand hotels focus on renovating and operating properties owned by third parties.

AKINORI KAMATA and MAI KITAGAWA, Nikkei staff writers

January 19, 2024 17:14 JST

TOKYO -- IHG Hotels & Resorts, a U.K.-based hotel chain, said Friday that it will open three hotels in Osaka this year under its midprice brand Garner, targeting the growing tourism market in Japan's second-largest city with the 2025 World Expo approaching.

IHG operates 47 hotels in Japan and has a total of about 14,000 rooms in the country. CEO Elie Maalouf unveiled a plan to double the number of hotels it runs in Japan. "We are confident that we can reach that [goal] in the next few years," he said at a news conference in Tokyo.