SIX CONTINENTS HOTELS SHOWS DEVELOPMENT PLANS NEW CORPORATE IDENTITY AT TRAVEL FAIR

Change of name will not affect individuality of Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands

Six Continents Hotels will use next week’s Mediterranean Travel Fair 2001 in Cairo as a platform to promote its unique spread of hotel brands, as well as its aggressive expansion plans, in the region.

Formerly known as Bass Hotels & Resorts, the world’s most global hotel company will also take the opportunity to emphasise that the recent change to its corporate identity will not affect the individuality of Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn properties.

“While our corporate name is different, there is no change to the fact that we have three distinct, highly recognised brands in this part of the world,” said Denis Johnson, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Six Continents Hotels, Middle East and Africa.

“Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn are different in style, different in levels of service and therefore, appeal to different people. The one thing they have in common, and this will not be affected by recent corporate developments, is value for money within their individual categories.”

Dedicated to the travel and tourism industry and designed to meet growing industry needs, Mediterranean Travel Fair takes place at Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Centre from September 24-26. It is aimed at providing the non European countries of the region, including Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Turkey, with the perfect business forum.

Six Continents Hotels, whose Middle East and Africa headquarters are in Cairo, currently operates 119 Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels and resorts across the region, with another 21 under development.

The Mediterranean is an important area for each of the brands. New properties opening in the next eight months include Inter-Continental and Holiday Inn resort hotels in Hammamet, Tunisia, and Lebanon’s first Crowne Plaza hotel, in Beirut.

“Given the distribution of our hotels, the Mediterranean is very important to us, with Italy and Spain both being key markets,” said Johnson. “With new Inter-Continental and Holiday Inn resorts opening soon in Tunisia, and Crowne Plaza entering Beirut, added to our existing Crowne Plaza property in Casablanca, the Mediterranean rim of southern Europe will become an essential part of our sales and marketing activities.”

Addded Johnson: “Our main aim at Mediterranean Travel Fair is simple and straight forward - to generate business for our hotels, while also taking advantage of the opportunities the event creates for networking with customers, showcasing new hotels, and talking about our new marketing strategies.”

The choice of Six Continents Hotels, and Six Continents PLC as the new name of its parent company, was approved by shareholders last month. The name Bass and the red triangle trademark were sold with the Bass Brewers business to Interbrew in August last year. A condition of the sale was that Bass ceases using the name.

Six Continents was selected for its representation of the global spread and aspirations of the group, which operates over 3,200 hotels and resorts in close to 100 countries and territories, across six continents.