IHG has signed a franchised agreement with Netherlands-based Borealis Hotel Group to open the Holiday Inn Express Budapest City Centre. The 189-room hotel will be the brand’s first in Budapest and the first IHG property to enter the Hungarian market in over 20 years.
Expected to open late 2022, Holiday Inn Express Budapest City Centre will be developed by the company Big4.
The hotel will be close to Budapest’s inner city and to Blaha Lujza square, once home to the original Hungarian National Theatre, which is soon to be transformed into a modern community space.
“Borealis and IHG have been working on numerous developments across Europe together and I very much value the strong and trusted partnership we have formed over the years,” said Bart van de Kamp, CEO and founder of Borealis Hotel Group.
IHG currently has two hotels open in Hungary: the InterContinental Budapest and Holiday Inn® Budapest – Budaors.
In December, IHG signed three multiple development agreements for more than 50 hotels across Europe. Under the structure of the MDAs, the specific hotel properties and locations will be finalized and signed over the next 10 years.
Holiday Inn Express is the company’s fastest-growing brand, and has gained ground across Europe in recent years. IHG has more than 250 Holiday Inn Express hotels open and 71 due to open in the next three to five years across the region. Most recently, the company opened the Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam – North Riverside, the largest Holiday Inn Express in Europe.
In February, Cycas Hospitality signed a lease agreement with Van der Linde Architecten and Development company to manage IHG’s first new Holiday Inn Express & Suites concept in Europe. The property is expected to open near Deventer in The Netherlands in early 2021 and will have 83 standard rooms and 16 suites.