Holiday Inn’s parent company, InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, is forming a new hotel brand focused on working out and healthier dining.
The U.K.-based company announced its plans to open the first Even hotels in early 2013. The hotels’ guest rooms will offer exercise space and such pluses as hypoallergenic linens and healthier food options. The mid-priced chain will also include sizeable gyms behind their front desks, as well as a lobby ‘marketplace’ providing smoothies, salads and other healthy eats.
Rooms will have reconfigured features that can be used for exercise—including a coat rack sturdy enough to serve as a pull-up bar—and also provide an exercise mat, LED dimmers and anti-bacterial wipes.
IHG intends to spend $150 million to initiate the brand by purchasing existing properties and reworking them. The first hotels are expected to be in larger markets, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Boston. The first location will be announced sometime this spring, and IHG anticipates having approximately 100 Even properties up and running within five years.