Yesterday I have read that IHG is terminating Hotel franchise contracts with hotels which do not keep up with the standards of Holiday Inn or Crowne Plaza Hotels. This had or still have effect on hotels in EMEA and North-America. In the spring of 2021 IHG closed more hotels then it opened and this was not due to Covid-19 situation but to this standard requirements. Hotels, which are closing down or are rebranded at the moment, are most likely part of this change of strategy.

There are operations going-on to introduce new hotels with up-to-date standards but that mostly will take time. Neither Hannover or Cologne are in Germany in any IHG pipe-line to open up new hotels in nearer future.