Six Continents Hotels, which operates the InterContinental and Holiday Inn brands, has earmarked about US$330 million to refurbish its portfolio of properties in Asia in an effort to boost competitiveness.
The expenditure represents one-third of the US$1 billion to be spent on some 140 InterContinental hotels worldwide until 2004.
Among those to be rejuvenated is the five-star 514-room InterContinental Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was formerly the Regent Hong Kong hotel that the group, then known as Bass Hotels & Resorts, bought from New World Development last year for HK$2.7 billion.
Six Continents also operates the 600-room Holiday Inn Golden Mile and the 579-room Grand Stanford InterContinental hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The refurbishment campaign, launched yesterday in tandem with a string of cutting-edge services at InterContinental hotels, came as worldwide hoteliers are reeling from the tourism turmoil following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Chairman and chief executive Thomas Oliver said yesterday that the industry had finally showed signs of improvement.
'The good news is we have seen more people getting in hotels, but unfortunately the room rate is not as good as it was,' Mr Oliver said during a tour in Hong Kong. 'Travellers are making more last minute plans.'