InterContinental, the world’s largest hotel firm and the name behind hotel brands such as Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, is set to launch a new chain next year.

In a speech at the firm’s annual conference in Las Vegas, IHG’s America’s boss confirmed to staff that a new hotel brand was on the way.

“If you’re on a cereal aisle, and you’re Post (Foods LLC) or Kellogg (Co.), you want to dominate as much as you can of that shelf space,” Kirk Kinsell said.

Luxury hotel chain Waldorf Astoria has announced a partnership with high-end fashion brand Salvatore Ferragamo to produce a new range of guest amenities.

The kits, which will be available exclusively from Waldorf Astoria properties, are Salvatore Ferragamo’s first venture into beauty and grooming and are comprised of Eau de Toilette, amenities and bath products.

Featuring exclusively Italian ingredients, the set of products will be distributed under the name ‘Tuscan Soul’.

International hotel chain Marriott has confirmed the opening of three new hotels in Doha, Qatar.

The company debuted its Renaissance, Courtyard and Executive Apartment brands for in Qatar October 4, adding nearly 600 rooms to the capital city in two skyscrapers.

The hotels are located in two 48-storey skyscrapers, part of the Doha City Center Mall complex, a huge shopping and tourism complex in Doha’s West Bay district.

Casino giant Caesar’s Entertainment has announced the start of construction on its first non-casino luxury resort, in the Chinese holiday destination of Hainan.

The Caesars Palace Longmu Bay will be a 5-star resort with 1,000 rooms, a Las Vegas-style attraction which will set a ‘global luxury standard’ in China.

The first phase of the project is expected to cover a total of five square kilometers, Caesars confirmed September 27, with a planned opening date of 2014.

Asian hotel operator Minor has launched a new luxury brand to be rolled out across Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Avani Hotels & Resorts launched last week and is intended to draw heavily on the Minor’s Asian roots, offering a ‘grounded personality’ and ‘a simple sense of style’ — Avani stems from the Sanskrit word for “earth.”

The first outpost for the new brand will open by the end of the year in Sri Lanka as the Avani Bentota Resort & Spa, a beachfront resort in the south of the country.

InterContinental has announced ambitious plans to open 100 hotels in Russia by 2020, an expansion of almost ten times the number operating there today.

The hotel chain announced September 12 that it aimed to capitalize on growing tourism to the country by significantly adding to the number of hotels it operates, across brands such as InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo.

Among the new properties will be Europe’s largest Holiday Inn, a 1,000-room behemoth in Moscow set to open in 2014.