TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published. For more details please see the advertising disclosure found at the bottom of every page
IHG has been known to be shopping around for a small-ish luxury chain for at least a year and it now looks as if it has settled upon Regent Hotels & Resorts to fill a void in its portfolio.
On 14 March 2018 IHG announced that it has acquired a 51% controlling stake in Regent Hotels & Resorts for $39m in cash. IHG has also got the right to purchase the remaining 49% in stages starting in 2026.
A lot of readers probably won’t have heard of Regent International Hotels before but this is a small luxury chain with a big history. Right now Regent Hotels and Resorts is only made up of 6 properties with a further 3 in development (more on those later) but a quick look at the chain’s past reveals some very interesting properties indeed.
The most famous former Regent Property is probably the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (formerly the Regent Beverly Wilshire) in Beverly Hills but all of the following properties were once part of the Regent brand too:
- Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel
- Four Seasons Hotel Sydney
- Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta
- The Landmark London
- ONE Bal Harbour (Miami)
- Westin Fiji Resort
Interestingly, the InterContinental Hong Kong was also once a Regent property and IHG has already indicated that it will once again wear the Regent brand after renovations are complete in 2021.
The Current Regent Hotels & Resorts Portfolio
As the map of properties on the Regent Hotels website shows, IHG hasn’t exactly bought into a chain with a worldwide footprint…..
…but what it has bought doesn’t look too bad.
Here are the current properties in the portfolio:
- The Regent Beijing
- The Regent Berlin
- The Regent Chongqing
- The Regent Porto Montenegro
- The Regent Singapore
- The Regent Taipei
The opulent looking regent Berlin
The properties in development include:
- The Regent Jakarta (scheduled to open in 2018)
- The Regent Harbin (scheduled to open in 2019)
- The Regent Phu Qupoc (scheduled to open in 2020)
You could say that the chain is a little Asia-heavy 🙂
Having never stayed at any of these properties I’ve had to rely on TripAdvisor to see what people are saying about the various Regent properties and, while I certainly don’t believe everything I read on TA, what I’ve seen makes good reading.
The Regent Berlin is ranked as the 7th most popular hotel in Berlin….
….and the Regent Singapore (which for some reason is still called “a Four Seasons Hotel”) is ranked 25th in the city:
The other hotels don’t rank as highly as these two properties but all seem to get very favorable reviews from guests.
Going Forward
Here’s what Keith Barr, IHG’s CEO, had to day about the acquisition:
IHG is already one of the world leaders in luxury with our InterContinental Hotels and Resorts brand, but we see significant potential to further develop our global footprint in the fast-growing luxury segment. As one of the pioneers in defining luxury hotels both in Asia and around the world, Regent is an excellent addition to IHG’s portfolio of brands. We see a real opportunity to unlock Regent’s enormous potential and accelerate its growth globally. In addition, by creating a dedicated luxury division, we will be bringing together some of the most experienced and respected people in the industry who will help drive our luxury offer, ensuring that our existing luxury brands continue to evolve and allowing us to bring in new brands such as Regent to enhance our brand portfolio
The 6 hotels & the 3 hotels in the pipeline combine to offer a little under 3,000 rooms and IHG has said that it expects to grow the Regent brand to more than 10,000 rooms (40 hotels) “over the long term”.
There’s no mention if this brand growth is to be done by converting existing IHG properties in to Regent hotels (as IHG has already said it plans to do with the IC Hong Kong), or if it will be done by bringing onboard other properties that aren’t currently in the IHG portfolio.
I suspect most IHG fans would like to see the latter but I suspect we’ll see a combination of the two.
I’m expecting IHG to eventually bring the Regent Hotels into its IHG Rewards loyalty program but, based on the rate that Kimpton was brought into the fold, I wouldn’t expect this to happen any time soon (hopefully I’m wrong about this).
Bottom Line
6 hotels and 3 upcoming properties aren’t really anything to get excited about but this is a start. If IHG uses the Regent brand to attract more high-end properties into its portfolio (and eventually into IHG Rewards) then this could be the start of something good for IHG Rewards loyalists. Let’s hope that’s what it is.
If any readers have stayed at any of Regent’s current properties it would be good to hear what you thought of the hotel and the service offered – are the positive TripAdvisor reviews a good indication f what to expect or not?
