London, 20 June 2011 - IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON: IHG; NYSE: IHG (ADRs)] announces the sale of the 210-room Hotel Indigo San Diego to Chesapeake (Chesapeake Lodging Trust) for US$55.5 million in cash.  IHG will continue to manage the hotel under a long-term management agreement.

The sale is a continuation of IHG's strategy of growing its management and franchise businesses and reducing capital intensity.  Since 2003, IHG has released $5.7 billion of capital through the sale of 187 hotels and the divestment of equity stakes.  Over the same period, IHG has returned almost $6 billion to shareholders.  During 2011 alone, IHG has agreed proceeds of over $140m for the sale of three hotels and divestment of an equity stake, with a combined net book value of $105m.  Following this sale, IHG has 12 owned hotels with the InterContinental New York Barclay currently on the market.

Richard Solomons, incoming Chief Executive and currently CFO and Head of Commercial Development of IHG, said:  "The sale of the Hotel Indigo San Diego is another great example of our asset light strategy and brand building in action. We built this showcase Hotel Indigo using IHG's own capital in 2009 to drive growth of this branded-boutique hotel brand across the Americas and accelerate international expansion." Since then IHG has signed 45 Hotel Indigo hotels globally including 14 in Europe and 6 in Asia.  Solomons added: "We are now able to recycle the capital to develop our brands, for example through the recently announced joint venture with Brack Capital Real Estate to develop a Hotel Indigo hotel on the Lower East Side of Manhattan."

"We are extremely pleased to acquire San Diego's first LEED-certified hotel and our first Hotel Indigo property" said James Francis, President and CEO of Chesapeake Lodging Trust.  "IHG has a superb track record in lodging and from launch in 2004 has quickly established Hotel Indigo as a premier brand.  We are very excited to be developing a long-term relationship with IHG and look forward to working with them on this high quality hotel, as well as future opportunities."

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global company operating seven well-known hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites®.  IHG also manages Priority Club® Rewards, the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programme with 58 million members worldwide.

IHG is the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms and IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns, through various subsidiaries, a portfolio of over 4,400 hotels and more than 652,000 guest rooms in 100 countries and territories around the world.
IHG has more than 1,200 hotels in its development pipeline and expects to recruit around 160,000 people worldwide over the next few years.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.
IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com/ and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at http://www.priorityclub.com/. For our latest news visit www.ihg.com/media, Twitter www.twitter.com/ihgplc or YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ihgplc

About Chesapeake Lodging Trust
Chesapeake Lodging Trust is a self-advised lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investments primarily in upper-upscale hotels in major business and convention markets and, on a selective basis, premium select-service and extended-stay hotels in urban settings or unique locations in the United States. The Company owns eight hotel properties with an aggregate of 2,402 rooms in four states. Additional information can be found on the Company's website at www.chesapeakelodgingtrust.com