IHG expands luxury footprint with Six Senses acquisition

The consolidation in the high-end hotel market continues with the announcement that IHG has snapped up luxury lifestyle Six Senses brand in a $300m deal.

Hot on the heels of the LVMH-Belmond deal, announced in December and set to close this spring, IHG has bought the Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas brand from Pegasus Capital Advisors in a deal that includes all the Six Senses operating companies but no physical assets.

Six Senses currently manages 16 hotels and resorts in locations such as the Maldives, the Seychelles, Yao Noi in Thailand, Zighy Bay in Oman, and the recently unveiled Bhutan property, with 18 management contracts signed into its pipeline, and more than 50 further deals under active discussion.

Six Senses will sit at the top of IHG’s luxury portfolio, taking its portfolio of open and pipeline luxury hotels to 400 hotels (108,000 rooms) globally. IHG said the acquisition extends its reach to a community of affluent travellers and new owners and provides instant entry to some of the world’s most sought-after locations.

“Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top-tier of luxury and one we’ve admired for some time. You only have to look at its iconic hotels and resorts to see how this acquisition will further round out our luxury offer. With a focus on wellness and sustainability, Six Senses has been voted the world’s top hotel brand for the past two years, which is testament to its impressive management team who bring deep experience to IHG’s luxury operations,” commented IHG CEO Keith Barr.

“Six Senses’ attractive development pipeline provides us with a platform for high quality growth… we believe we can expand Six Senses to more than 60 properties globally over the next decade. This acquisition continues the progress we’ve made against the strategic initiatives we outlined a year ago, which included a commitment to adding new brands in the fast-growing $60 billion luxury segment.”