InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a letter of intent with investment company Axe Management Partners to launch its Garner midscale conversion brand in Japan this year, the hotel company announced Friday.
The signing marks the brand’s “first deal outside of North America,” the company said, following Garner’s first hotel opening in Seattle in December 2023. IHG first announced the launch of the brand in August.
IHG expects Garner to debut in Japan during the latter half of this year, beginning with three conversion properties in Osaka, the company said. This plan would add more than 500 guest rooms to the region for the hotel company, and all three properties will be included within IHG One Rewards loyalty program, according to IHG.
The brand’s expansion plans further IHG’s goal to “reach an estate of over 500 hotels over the next 10 years and 1,000 hotels over the next 20 years,” for the brand, according to the company.
