IHG Hotels & Resorts has acquired the Ruby hotel brand, making its twentieth brand in the group portfolio.
An acquisition deal with an initial payment of EUR110.5m, it will immediately add 20 operational hotels to the IHG presence in Europe, with a further 10 pipeline Ruby hotels already signed. But the plan is to take the Ruby brand global, accelerating its growth in key markets around the world.
Building the brand portfolio
IHG has signed a master franchise and development agreement with the Ruby Group, and so is acquiring the brand and intellectual property, but will not be acquiring the current operating company.
“We have carefully selected IHG as the right partner to take the Ruby brand and our international expansion to the next level,” said Michael Struck, founder and CEO of the Ruby Group. “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.”
The agreement binds Ruby Group and IHG to work together to develop the Ruby rollout more quickly. Incentive payments have been included, which could pay up to a maximum of EUR181m to Ruby Group, should growth targets be hit in 2030, and 2035. That second target is for the Ruby brand to hit 20,000 rooms, six times its current size.
“Ruby further enriches our portfolio with an exciting, distinct and high quality offer for both guests and owners in popular city destinations,” said IHG CEO Elie Maalouf. “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.”
The current Ruby pipeline will deliver 10 more hotels that should all be opened before the end of 2027. Among those newcomers, opening later in 2025, are Ruby Mainyard Frankfurt, with 284 rooms and the brand’s second hotel in the city; and also a second hotel in the Irish capital, Ruby Dublin Middle Abbey Street. And in Marseille, an office building will be repurposed to create a Ruby hotel with 237 rooms.
Expanding across Europe
Into 2026, openings include the Ruby Kungsholmen in Stockholm, Sweden, where a former office building will be converted and the block will feature a restaurant on the eleventh floor.
Retail spaces are also sometimes perfect for conversion into a characterful Ruby hotel. In Edinburgh, Scotland the new Ruby Hotel Edinburgh will be created from three connecting buildings on the city’s famous retail boulevard, Princes Street. And in Budapest, the Corvin Palace, a former department store, is to be converted to a mix of new uses, with the Ruby hotel occupying the upper floors, with the hotel’s bar and lounge on the building’s fifth floor.
