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IHG Hotels & Resorts announced today that it has acquired the Ruby™ brand from German hotelier, Ruby SARL. The hotel chain has 20 hotels open in Austria (3), Germany (9), Ireland (1), Italy (1), the Netherlands (1), Switzerland (2), and the United Kingdom (3). There are 10 more properties currently in the pipeline slated for new cities like Edinburgh, Marseille, Rome, and Stockholm.
The Ruby™ brand was established in 2013 and offers a stylish yet relaxed charm that it calls “lean luxury.” This includes comfortable beds and relaxing showers, unique cocktails in destination 24/7 bars, and city locations that work for both business and leisure travelers. The brand could be most closely compared to Marriott’s Moxy.
Ruby™ is well-established in Europe and is successful for both new build locations as well as being highly conversion-friendly, which gives owners options such as converting existing office spaces. IHG expects to grow the brand with other hotel owners in Europe and globally. The Ruby™ brand is expected to be ready for development in the United States by the end of 2025. IHG plans to grow Ruby™ globally to more than 120 hotels within 10 years and 250 hotels in 20 years.
Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said:
We are delighted with the acquisition of Ruby™, which further enriches our portfolio with an exciting, distinct and high-quality offer for both guests and owners in popular city destinations. This acquisition demonstrates our focus on building our presence in large, attractive industry segments and using our experience of integrating and growing brands and hotel portfolios. The urban micro space is a franchise-friendly model with attractive owner economics, and we see excellent opportunities to not only expand Ruby’s strong European base but also rapidly take this exciting brand to the Americas and across Asia, as we have successfully done with previous brand acquisitions.”
Michael Struck, Founder and CEO of The Ruby Group, added:
We have carefully selected IHG as the right partner to take the Ruby brand and our international expansion to the next level. IHG’s distribution powerhouse, the fact that Ruby perfectly complements IHG’s portfolio, and its proven track record of successfully preserving identity and culture when integrating brands gives us great confidence as we embark on this next chapter together. Combining the global reach and resources of IHG with the efficiency advantages of our operational and construction model will drive superior returns for our investors and real-estate partners, alike. Also, the timing could not be better. Our unique solutions for efficient adaptive re-use of office space are in high demand, positioning us for strong growth.”
IHG will acquire the Ruby™ brand and franchise business for an initial purchase consideration of around $116 million. The Ruby SARL will operate the Ruby-branded hotels that are currently open, as well as the current pipeline of properties scheduled to open in the next three years.
Anthony’s Take: I had never heard of this chain before, but I like its style. IHG needs more hotels (and more upscale brands) to continue to compete with Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott. This is a solid acquisition for them.
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
2 comments
what’s a “Relaxing shower?”
Their email announcing this brand is so funny. Because when I’m trying to get some sleep I want the hipster in the next room “checking out a guitar” and plugging into a Marshall-branded amp in his room 🙂