Fragrance Hotels has signed its latest UK development project, in Torquay, to the Hotel Indigo brand.
The 153 room property, which has been subject to a comprehensive redevelopment, will open in the second half of 2025 with IHG’s lifestyle brand over the door. For the town, the transformation replaces the Corbyn Head Hotel, which was for many years a local landmark.
The hotel will be the 26th to join the Indigo brand in the UK and Ireland, where IHG already has a strong presence across its lifestyle and luxury brands. With 19 of those hotels open, there is a strong pipeline with upcoming openings later in 2025 including Hotel Indigo London Clerkenwell, and Hotel Indigo Leeds.
The property will provide guests with a great stay on the English Riviera, the grouping of Torquay, Paignton and Brigham. Many of the rooms in the new hotel will have stunning sea views, while there will be a stylish rooftop bar for those seeking more fresh seaside air.
Singapore-backed Fragrance Hotels has made major investments in recent years, in the regional UK hotel market. It acquired a cluster of properties and projects in the south west, and in 2023 bought the Grand Atlantic hotel in Weston Super Mare.
The new Indigo represents a significant investment by Fragrance, which bought the site and the Corbyn Head hotel on it, in 2017. The redevelopment was held up by the pandemic, but is now nearing completion.
In the north, Fragrance has completed the transformation of former council offices, to create an M Gallery hotel. In Blackpool, work is proceeding on a new 143 room hotel development of the St Chad’s Hotel site that will deliver an upscale hotel. In Bath, the group is advancing plans to convert a listed building into a new luxury hotel. The Royal Mineral Water Hospital Hotel will have 167 rooms when completed, with architects Stride Treglown working up designs.
And in its home market of Singapore, Fragrance is also actively developing. A new 502 room hotel in Waterloo Street will complete towards the end of 2025, when it will join Accor’s Handwritten Collection. And the company is also planning to build a dual hotel project that will feature the largest Movenpick hotel in Asia Pacific, with 808 rooms. The project will also feature a co-located Movenpick Living unit, providing accommodation for those seeking a longer stay.
IHG’s Indigo pipeline in the UK includes the Forum Gloucester Indigo Hotel, a 131 room new build that is part of the larger Forum development in the city. And in Leeds, a 107 room Indigo is being prepared for a launch in autumn 2025.
In London, there are two upcoming launches. Hotel Indigo London K West Shepherd’s Bush is being created from part of the former BBC Kensington House studios, and will have 31 rooms, opening in autumn 2025. And Hotel Indigo London Clerkenwell, close to the capital’s financial district, will feature 151 rooms, linking the historic listed Hat & Feathers pub with two new accommodation wings.
