Your core business is running hotels. Should you own the buildings too? Intercontinental Hotels, British-based but with some 540,000 rooms worldwide, has decided not. It is not alone. Intercontinental operates worldwide under its own name, and through such brands as Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn. Once part of Six Continents, a British brewing, pub and hotel group, it was demerged in April 2003. Many of its 3,500-plus hotels were franchises, but those it owned were worth some $6 billion. Since the demerger it has sold 28 of these for $6oom and put 13 others, worth over $200m, on the market. This week it announced that of the 160-odd it still owns, 20 more, valued on its books at $950m, are to go. The sales have been widespread: in America, Australia, Britain and even Vanuatu, a collection of islands in the south Pacific. The new list is headed by InterCon-tinentals in Chicago and Miami.
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