IHG Hotels & Resorts’ midscale brand Garner has made its European debut with the opening of its first three hotels in Germany.
Garner is being introduced in Europe through a new partnership with German hotel operator NOVUM Hospitality, which was announced earlier this year.
The three properties, which have opened in the past few weeks, are: Garner Hotel Hamburg Nord, Garner Hotel Elmshorn near Hamburg, and Garner Hotel Augsburg Nord in Augsburg. They become the first Garner properties outside the Americas region.
Under the agreement with IHG, NOVUM’s Yggotel, Select and Novum brands, which have a total of 56 open and planned hotels, will convert to Garner properties.
IHG announced plans to launch Garner last year and the brand currently has 90 hotels either open or in the development pipeline.
Mario Maxeiner, managing director of Northern Europe at IHG Hotels & Resorts, said: "We are proud to welcome IHG’s first Garner-branded hotels to Europe with three successive openings in Germany, which is one of our key European growth markets.
“With more than 50 further Garner hotels to come to the Northern Europe market, we can’t wait to delight guests and drive the success of this new brand.”
NOVUM’s CEO and owner David Etmenan said that most of the remaining Garner conversions will take place by the middle of 2025.
“As one of IHG’s largest global franchise partners, we are incredibly proud to be entrusted with the launch of the first Garner hotels in Europe – starting with not just one, but three properties simultaneously,” added Etmenan.
“We are confident in our ability to complete the rebranding of all existing hotels to the Garner brand on schedule, with the majority set to be integrated by mid-2025."
The deal between IHG and NOVUM also includes 50 Holiday Inn – the niu “brand collaboration” hotels and 12 properties being rebranded under the Candlewood Suites banner. It will allow IHG to double its portfolio in Germany to more than 200 properties in 100 cities.