SAGESSE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

Phoenicia InterContinental
Lebanon

A business case submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA)

Helene Haddad Mario Massaad Carlo Moubarak Nabil Skayem

Sagesse University 2011

SAGESSE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

Phoenicia InterContinental
Lebanon

A business case submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA)

Helene Haddad Mario Massaad Carlo Moubarak Nabil Skayem

Sagesse University 2011

ABSTRACT

InterContinental Hotels Group IHG, the largest hotels company in the world measured by number of rooms, is managing and operating two chains of hotels located in Beirut, Lebanon: Le Vendome Intercontinental Hotel and Phoenicia Intercontinental Hotel. Both hotels are owned by Socit Des Grands hotels Du Liban SAL, and managed by IHG under an agreement between the two companies for a period of 10 years. In the light of the different management fees incurred by both companies, and in what was described as a step to give Phoenicia and Le Vendome a new identity, coordination efforts between both management of IHG and SGHL led to the creation of the Phoenicia and Vendome brand. The creation of this new entity was focusing on preserving the customer perception and loyalty, enhancing the position in the market, and restructuring the internal functions of the newborn brand to align main responsibilities under a unified cluster. In the present study, we will start by describing the concept of Phoenicia InterContinental including its history, growth, structure and position in the market. A general approach introducing IHG and SGHL will follow, focusing on their relationship in managing Phoenicia and Le Vendome hotels. After summarizing the main identities of Phoenicia and Le Vendome, we will detail how IHG and SGHL succeeded in building a new entity combining both hotels, disintegrating the InterContinental brand, and keeping the management agreement as to preserve the benefits of previous competitive advantages. On a parallel level, we shall illustrate the efforts deployed by IHG and SGHL to avoid that one of the two hotels might grow and shift its model and concept as to cannibalize the other.

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 : Table 2 : Table 3: Table 4 :

Competitive Edge IHG Activity Model IHG Management fees Phoenicia / Vendome Comparison table

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 : Figure 2 : Figure 3 : Figure 4 : Figure 5 : Figure 6 : Figure 7 : Phoenicia InterContinental Organizational Structure InterContinental Alliance Resort Organizational Structure SGHL InterContinental Phoenicia InterContinental Le Vendome InterContinental Phoenicia (room) InterContinental Le Vendome (room)

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
IHG : SGHL : InterContinental Hotel Group Socit Des Grands hotels Du Liban SAL

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