IHG’s Christophe Laure on the next era of the Intercontinental and luxury hotel growth

With 12 palace-level hotels and a reputation for the refined, Paris has long been a global benchmark for luxury stays. Among the most storied of its offerings is the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand, a landmark facing the Opéra Garnier. Behind its baroque façade, travellers with taste and locals looking for a well-appointed dining experience head to its Winter Garden and Café de la Paix.

For the past 15 years the hotel was managed by Christophe Laure, now newly appointed to lead all of Intercontinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) luxury and lifestyle properties. His promotion comes at a time when the sector is both fiercely competitive and continuing to see growth and expansion in the City of Light and beyond.

With an estimated value of $154.32bn (€132.5bn) in 2024, projections suggest the value of the global luxury hospitality sector will exceed $166bn (€142bn) before the end of 2025 and surpass $218bn (€187bn) by 2029. France is very much a key player in this growth. The French luxury-hospitality market was valued at approximately $12.16bn (€10.43bn) in 2024 and it is anticipated to grow at an average annual rate of 2.74 per cent through 2029.

So how does one ensure that their property sees a decent chunk of change from this rise in luxury-hospitality stays? At a time when hotels are branching into experiences, sustainability initiatives, merchandise, fashion collaborations, wellness and heritage storytelling, there’s a lot for any hotelier to consider when trying to keep their establishment booked, profitable and relevant. As Laure tells Monocle, hotels such as the Intercontinental are refining their approaches to hospitality to mark themselves clearly as luxury players as opposed to the many high-end options.

In the calm of the grand glasshouse, Laure confides his plans for 2026, discusses the state of the luxury hospitality market and how the Intercontinental is matching evolved guest expectations.

- With the competition in the upper-luxury segment so tough in Paris at the moment, how does Intercontinental stand out?

- Our history is rooted in international travel and that remains our strength to this day. When Pan American World Airways was opening routes between North and South America in 1946, the CEO of Pan-Am told the president that [new hotels at the airline’s destinations] would live up to the standards of Pan-Am’s glorious cabins, and so the first Intercontinental hotel was born to provide quality and safe accommodation to the traveller crossing continents for business.

- How do you meet the specific needs of the clientele of upper-luxury travellers who are constantly on the move?

- This might seem obvious but the first thing that you need when you travel abroad is to feel safe and we take that very seriously. Then the key is attention to detail. When our customers walk into their room, we want them to feel that they are the first to ever stay there, that it’s brand new. Our clientele also cares about attentive service: always being there without seeming to, being present but discreet, along with high-quality cuisine, of course.

- Are there markets where you find this is in especially high demand?

- Asia and the Middle East. The Middle East is a more mature market now; we have been there for about 30 years. But Asia – even though China is in the midst of a slowdown – is a market where there is a lot of interest in what we do. There is an eagerness there to discover and reproduce what we offer in France. I have a client who sent me some photos of a hotel where he was staying in Hanoi recently and the layout is remarkably similar to Le Grand Hotel’s. It’s flattering.

- For a hotel group, what do you think is key to a successful international expansion? 

- When you want to grow roots in a new market, you need to respect what the people there are used to consuming. But at the same time, put forward your own expertise and offer something new.
For example, IHG was one of the first groups to invest in China. Today we have 800 hotels there. There are properties from our global brands, such as Intercontinental, Kimpton and Crowne Plaza. But we also created a completely new brand, Hualuxe, which is a Chinese label dedicated to the Chinese market. This way everyone gets what they want. International travellers can rely on brands that they already know and love, and we show the domestic clientele that we are also attuned to their expectations.

- Looking ahead, what are the heavy trends that you see shaping hospitality?

- In short, the human side of it. Customers want to be recognised: they crave that empathy, that sense that we know who they are and what they need – how they like their breakfast, for instance – because they have stayed with us in the past and that’s how we keep them coming back. That’s not to say there isn’t a technological aspect to this human touch. We have the longest-running loyalty programme in the business and that has served us well. We also want to provide customers with the convenience of getting updates on their booking and their stay through an app. For our staff as well, we are investing heavily in technology to provide new tools that allow them to spend as much time as possible on personal interactions that really make the biggest difference in our business.

Writer  Simon Bouvier