Europe’s Ruby Hotels is the latest brand to set foot into the USA, as brand owner IHG Hotels & Resorts looks at further international growth opportunities.
Ruby has, to date, grown across Europe, with a format declared as “lean luxury”. The brand has set itself apart by having the flexibility to grow in congested European city centres, by taking on sites that have been converted for hotel use, often older office buildings. It has made a virtue out of adapting quirky interiors, creating interiors that hotel guests love.
Landing in the Windy City
The latest addition to the Ruby portfolio will be a hotel in Chicago. The brand has signed a 30 year lease agreement on a city landmark, the historic Inn of Chicago building, which dates from the 1920s. The project will include a 22 storey tower housing 412 rooms, which is expected to open in 2027.
“This project marks a significant milestone for Ruby Group and its international growth,” said Michael Struck, the founder and CEO of Ruby Group. “In partnership with IHG and alongside experienced development partner Berk Properties, we are bringing Ruby’s design-led and efficient hotel concept to the US market for the first time.”
It was in 2025 that the Ruby business was acquired by IHG Hotels & Resorts, as its twentieth brand, in a transaction worth an initial EUR110.5 million. The move promised a step change in the growth rate for the brand, which as of February 2025 had 20 hotels open across Europe, with a further 10 signed. Since then, more pipeline projects have been signed across Europe. IHG head Elie Maalouf declared the brand “an exciting, distinct and high-quality offer for both guests and owners in popular city destinations”.
Typical of the Ruby approach is the brand’s project in Berlin, where a 375 room hotel is being created ready for opening in early 2028. Property partner Empira Group is working on reusing the upper floors of a property along Berlin’s famous shopping and cultural street, Kurfürstendamm. The block had stood unused for several years, after a stalled effort to convert it into offices. Now, it is being returned to it original hotel use, albeit with modern touches including a rooftop terrace on the twelfth floor.
European Growth Continues
Aside from Chicago, where will Ruby open next? Currently under construction are Ruby Mainyard Frankfurt, the brand’s second property in the city, plus Ruby Marseille, and in the Netherlands, Ruby Hotel Rotterdam Glashaven. In Switzerland, the brand’s second hotel is in preparation, working with with PSP Swiss Property to deliver a second Geneva hotel, opening in autumn 2028.
The brand is expanding in the Nordics, with a hotel in Stockholm under construction, plus signed sites in Malmo and Copenhagen. To the south of Europe, Ruby Hotel Malta is in planning.
