- IHG Hotels & Resorts is converting 14 hotels in Kyoto, representing 1,063 rooms, with GCP Hospitality.
- Twelve will transition to the Garner brand, one will become a Holiday Inn Express, and the fourteenth remains independent for now.
- No new builds: these are existing assets around the station, Shijō and Gojo.
- IHG now covers all segments in the city, from the ultra-luxury Six Senses to the midscale.
The largest brand conversion in recent Japanese history
IHG is taking over fourteen properties at once in the former imperial capital, in partnership with GCP Hospitality, the hospitality arm of G. Capital Group. The key point is not the number but the method: none of these hotels are to be built; they all exist and are already operating. In a market where Kyoto real estate is scarce, expensive and strictly regulated by height restrictions, conversion is the only path to rapid growth.
What each party brings to the table
GCP Hospitality retains the operations, while IHG provides distribution, technology and the IHG One Rewards loyalty programme. This is the classic franchise or management agreement model, and it explains the speed of the operation: nothing to buy back, no deep renovations required, just a sign to put up and a booking engine to plug in. Overnight, the 1,063 rooms gain access to a member base numbering in the tens of millions.
Garner, the fastest-growing brand in IHG history
Launched in 2023, Garner occupies the midscale segment and already boasts more than one hundred open hotels worldwide, making it the fastest rollout the group has ever seen. Twelve of the fourteen Kyoto properties will carry this brand. The choice speaks volumes about what IHG is targeting in Japan: not the luxury traveller, who is already catered for, but the mass tourism flow that the country has been absorbing since its borders reopened. Added to this is a Holiday Inn Express, focused on efficiency, and a fourteenth asset that will remain unbranded while it finds its positioning.
The operation in figures
| Hotels involved | 14 |
|---|---|
| Rooms | 1,063 |
| Under the Garner brand | 12 |
| Holiday Inn Express | 1 |
| Unbranded for now | 1 |
| Partner | GCP Hospitality, arm of G. Capital Group |
| Neighbourhoods | Kyoto Station, Shijō, Gojo |
| Already operated by IHG in Kyoto | Six Senses Kyoto |
The opinion of La Revue des Hôtels
For the past three years, Kyoto has experienced a tension that few heritage cities know: record visitor numbers, a hotel stock constrained by regulations, and a local population increasingly vocal about its fatigue. In this context, an operation that does not add a single bed but transitions a thousand existing rooms to an international brand is politically far cleverer than a new-build project. IHG gains a thousand keys without having to apply for a single permit.
The downside is well known to all groups that practice large-scale conversion: a brand name placed on an old building guarantees neither comfort nor consistency of experience. Garner’s reputation in Kyoto will depend on the actual condition of these fourteen buildings, not on the logo at the entrance.
