A majority-held subsidiary of global resort developer, Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), on Cotai Strip in Macao, known as “Asia’s Las Vegas”.

When built, Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Strip will be the world’s largest Holiday Inn. The hotel will be in the heart of the bustling Cotai Strip and part of Sands China’s newest integrated resort - Sands Cotai Central. Scheduled to open in early 2012, this spectacular resort will include the second largest building in the world and the full resort will offer 6,000 additional hotel rooms to the area, along with a wide variety of gaming, dining, retail, entertainment and meeting facilities.

Cotai is a newly reclaimed area linking Coloane and Taipa islands in Macao.  LVS’s Venetian Macao was the first hotel to debut on the area’s Cotai Strip in 2007 and when completed the Strip will offer an exciting new line-up of world-class hotels, prestigious brands and sensational entertainment.

In the past five years, Macao’s upper-upscale segment has made up nearly 90% of all newly opened hotels. This gives IHG a great opportunity to bring the affordable luxury of the mid-scale hotel segment to Macao.  IHG is already present in Macao with its well-established Holiday Inn Macau, which opened in 1993.

“This is a great addition to IHG’s portfolio with Las Vegas Sands (LVS) on the first-ever InterContinental Alliance Resorts project, which includes the Venetian and The Palazzo Resorts in Las Vegas launched in May this year,” said Keith Barr, chief executive officer for IHG Greater China. “We have established a foundation of mutual trust with LVS, which will lead to future relationships. We will continue and even accelerate our quality growth both globally and in Greater China by partnering with international large-scale and influential developers like LVS.”

It’s predicted that visitors to Macao will continue to grow in parallel with the wealth of the Chinese and attract other visitors from the Asia region. In 2010, Macao became the fourth most popular destination in the region for visitors after Mainland China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Of those visitors, Mainland China accounts for over 50%, followed by Hong Kong at 29%. “The number of hotel guests in Macao has tripled over the past five years. As the hospitality industry continues to flourish alongside the gaming and tourism sectors, Macao - as Asia’s emerging entertainment destination - is a hotel market with great potential,” Barr added.

Edward Tracy, president and chief executive officer of Sands China Ltd said, “Sands China is pleased to introduce our newest integrated resort - Sands Cotai Central - to this fastest growing hospitality market in the world. Cotai Central will specifically provide both high-end branded products for premium guests seeking a luxury lifestyle, and accommodation for affordable luxury on the Cotai Strip. We are thrilled about working with IHG in Macao. Adding the Holiday Inn brand offers our customers more selection of different hotel experience. With IHG’s international experience, brand value and vast sales infrastructure, it will certainly complement existing anchor Sands China properties to further increase and enhance Macau’s reputation as the premier and most diversified tourism destination in the region.”

The Holiday Inn brand family has recently completed a $1 billion worldwide programme that has seen the relaunch of over 3, 000 Holiday Inn properties over a three-year period. The relaunch programme has improved consistency and service levels, as well as establishing a more contemporary brand image. According to our research, the relaunch has also enhanced the hotel performance and improved guest satisfaction. The new Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Strip will open under the new Holiday Inn brand standard and will fit the needs of travelers who look for friendly service, comfort and great value.

Present in over 50 Chinese cities, IHG is the largest international hotel operator in the region with more than 150 hotels under five brands - InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts and Holiday Inn Express - and plans for nearly 150 more hotels in its development pipeline. As part of its rapid expansion in Greater China, one in four of the hotel rooms that IHG opens over the next five years will be in China.

City.Mobi

Also in China today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Beijing.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Beijing.city.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.