The 11-story hotel will be owned by Desarrollos Monumentales, S.A. de CV under a license agreement with a company in the InterContinental Hotels Group and is scheduled to open September 2008. 

Currently, there are three IHG properties in Honduras including the Real InterContinental San Pedro Sula, the Real InterContinental Tegucigalpa and the Holiday Inn San Pedro Sula also owned by Desarrollos Monumentales, S.A. Recently, IHG announced the groundbreaking of the first Holiday Inn Express in Central America, the San Jose � Forum in San Jose, Costa Rica. 

"The decision to bring the Holiday Inn Express brand to the country of Honduras reflects the development of tourism in the region, as well as the need for accommodations that offers comfort, convenience and good quality at affordable prices to international business and leisure travelers,� said Alvaro Diago, area president, IHG Latin America. �We have assessed the travel market in the region and feel that we are ahead of the trend and that it is timely to bring this mid-scale brand to the country.� 

�We are also delighted to develop yet another property with Desarrollos Monumentales, S.A., whom we�ve had a great 13-year relationship with, I know that this new hotel will be just as successful,� Diago added. 

�As IHG�s fastest growing brand, Holiday Inn Express is a welcome addition to our hotel portfolio in Honduras,� said Tom Murray, chief operating officer, IHG, The Americas. �We look forward to continued expansion in Central America and adding more hotels in the IHG family of brands to the region.� 

The Holiday Inn Express in San Pedro Sula will be situated on Avenida Circunvalación in front of the Monumento a la Madre and continues to the San Vicente de Paul Church, which is within walking distance from San Pedro Sula�s trendiest areas. It will also be next to the two best shopping malls in the city and about 15 minutes from San Pedro Sula�s International Airport. 

"We look forward to furthering our relationship with IHG � it has been a pleasure working with them throughout the years," says Antonio Handal, president, Desarrollos Monumentales, S.A. �Additionally, we are thrilled to bring a new and very attractive brand into the country.� 

Upon completion, the hotel will have an outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, four meeting rooms to accommodate up to 50 people and a business center. 

San Pedro Sula is considered Honduras� Industrial Capital with the abundant amount of factories, plantations, textile industries and commercial businesses that surround the city. It primarily caters to a business market, but it also serves leisure travelers, especially travelers eager to fly to the beautiful island of Roatan, a world-class diving destination, the Mayan Copan ruins and La Ceiba. 

Holiday Inn Express has rapidly developed into one of the world�s most preferred hotel brands. A young brand, by global hotel standards, Holiday Inn Express has been offering comfort, value and convenience to international business and pleasure travelers since its inception in 1991. 

In a short 16 years, the Holiday Inn Express has grown to nearly 1,700 hotels throughout the world, and is the fastest growing of the Holiday Inn hotel brands, of which there are 14 hotels currently found in Latin America. 

IHG has more than 160 hotels in Mexico, Central and South America as the well as the Caribbean, and has been serving Latin America for over 60 years. IHG is the world�s largest hotel company by number of rooms, and the second largest hotel operator in Latin America. IHG has hotels situated in nearly every key market throughout the Latin America territory. 

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of the United Kingdom [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms.