IHG has signed a Master Development Agreement (MDA) with Ishraq Hospitality, a division of the Dubai-based Mohamed & Obaid Almulla Group, to develop eight hotels across IHG’s midscale brand, Holiday Inn Express, in the MEA region.

The portfolio will see new hotel openings in the United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt in the near term. Ishraq Hospitality, which operates HIEX under the IHG franchise, currently owns four Holiday Inn Express hotels in the UAE in partnership with IHG. The agreement will mark the first Holiday Inn Express hotels in Oman, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt.

We are delighted to sign this agreement with Ishraq Hospitality, which will bring the Holiday Inn Express brand to the forefront in the Middle East and further strengthen our midscale offering in the MEA region. We are proud to continue our relationship with Ishraq Hospitality with whom we share a common vision for the travel and tourism industry in the region. The hospitality sector has faced great challenges in response to COVID-19, however, such signings reaffirm a positive future outlook for the industry.

Pascal Gauvin, Managing Director, India, Middle East and Africa, IHG:

IHG currently operates 95  hotels across 7 brands in the Middle East, including: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, voco and Six Senses with a further 42 in the development pipeline due to open within the next three to five years.