InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced the purchase of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas for $300 million. Six Senses currently operates 16 luxury hotels, resorts and spas, with another 18 in the pipeline. On top of that, there are another 50 opportunities in various phases of discussion.
While the properties are located in diverse locations, there is a focus on Asia and the Indian Ocean. For example, there are properties in locations such as the Maldives, the Seychelles, Yao Noi in Thailand, Zighy Bay in Oman, and Portugal’s Douro Valley.
About Six Senses
Six Senses properties tend to be luxurious. And Expensive. A night could easily set you back $1,000 or more.
They also tend to be quite nature focussed. As their website puts it:
Reconnect and refocus on what really matters, in destinations that are in total harmony with the natural environment.
If you’d like to explore some of their hotels, the following is a list of their current properties:
- Bhutan
- Krabey Island, Cambodia
- Qing Cheng Mountain, China
- Fiji
- Uluwatu, Bali
- Laamu, Maldives
- Zighy Bay, Oman
- Douro Valley, Portugal
- Zil Payson, Seychelles
- Duxton, Singapore
- Maxwell, Singapore
- Samui, Thailand
- Yao Noi, Thailand
- Kaplankaya, Turkey
- Con Dao, Vietnam
- Ninh Van Bay, Vietnam
Within IHG, Six Senses will sit at the top of IHG’s luxury portfolio. There it will complement the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts; the recently acquired Regent Hotels & Resorts; and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. The acquisition takes IHG’s portfolio of open and pipeline luxury hotels to 400 hotels (108,000 rooms) globally.
Thoughts
The acquisition is an interesting one for IHG. While it has the Intercontinental brand, Kimpton, and recently added the Regent brand, the luxury end of the market appears to be a weak point. To me, while it has some quite nice properties, upscale resort properties are a bit thin on the ground.
Six Senses does look to have some nice properties. Hopefully, the integration will go smoothly, and we will see Six Senses properties brought into the IHG Rewards program.
All in all, it could be good news for Intercontinental Hotels Group loyalists
