Home / Design services / Case studies

A hotel brand for new travel paradigms

IHG

IHG introduces Garner, a midsize brand elevated by thoughtful design.

100 new Garner Hotels

in less than 3 years—the fastest-scaling brand in IHG's history

500 Garner Hotels

planned in the next 10 years; 1,000 over the next 20

The pandemic ushered in a new era of travel that galvanized dramatic changes in the hotel industry. Remote workers began to blend business and leisure trips (“bleisure”) at an unprecedented rate, smaller market cities grew in popularity and size, and guests craved more flexible and authentic hotel experiences. At the same time, major economic disruptions led to tighter lending and higher interest rates and construction costs, which made building new hotels prohibitively expensive. Renovations became out of reach for many hotel owners. IHG Hotels & Resorts wanted to create a new midscale conversion brand to meet this moment, providing the warmth and design considerations that guests crave and offering hotel owners a way to distinguish themselves from the competition. In 2023, IHG partnered with IDEO to build Garner, a hotel brand designed to cultivate a welcoming and adventurous atmosphere.

“Working with IDEO was a phenomenal experience. They always bring such a balance of innovative thinking, creativity, and ‘how might we’ mentality that pushes our thinking and delivers best-in-class work. They embraced our agile mindset and ensured we built a brand that delivers for the guest, our owners, and IHG on a quick timeline to support the business."

Karen Gilbride

Vice President Avid Hotels, Atwell Suites & Garner Hotels at IHG

Conversions account for 12% of the global hotel pipeline, enabling hotels to switch brands and refurbish, boosting revenue without expensive construction.
‍

The US midscale hotel segment, valued at $14B, is expected to reach $18B by 2030.

Midscale hotel brands are the fastest-growing hotel segment in the US, attractive to both travelers and hotel owners. But often, their messaging feels repetitive, and travelers have a tough time differentiating between them. With a warm, thoughtfully designed midscale brand, IHG had an enormous opportunity to distinguish itself in a crowded market.

IHG’s goal was to deliver a guest experience that felt genuinely unique and resonant—and quickly. With costs on the rise, many owners were motivated to turn toward conversion brands, which allow them to refurbish hotels under a new brand rather than invest in construction, a way to grow their portfolio in a tight financing market. Meanwhile, IHG’s competitors were set to introduce new conversion brands of their own. The company was looking for a partner that could work swiftly and iteratively to deliver a distinct brand.

For the IDEO team, the answer lay in communicating the brand’s value, starting with a custom logo rendered by hand. Inspired by vintage sign painting and modernist typography, the team sketched different versions of the letterforms, reviewing them with IHG until they had a set that brought to life the generosity and sense of invitation associated with the hotel’s spaces. They also worked to ensure the wordmark was visually balanced and would translate well across a variety range of scales. From there, they built an expansive brand world, including bespoke navigation icons, a full interior and exterior signage system, and a video to support the Garner launch.

The result is a hotel brand that stands apart in its category for both travelers and owners: thoughtful and well-designed yet affordable. As competition in the midscale segment continues to increase, Garner has been central to IHG’s growth strategy. Launched in the fall of 2023, Garner opened 100 hotels worldwide in just 16 months, making it the fastest-ever IHG brand to scale globally. The brand’s increasing popularity among owners and developers is driven by the growing demand for conversion properties, which accounted for 52% of IHG’s room openings in 2025. Garner plans to continue its rapid expansion with nearly 80 additional hotels in 12 key markets, including the US, Mexico, Italy, and Japan.

Press stories

IHG to debut Garner brand in Japan

Business Traveller

IHG Launches 19th Hotel Brand - the Strategy Behind ‘Garner’

Skift

Curious about how this kind of thinking could benefit your organization? We’d love to hear from you.

If you could include any details or anecdotes about what brought you here today, it will help make sure we get you connected to the best person right away.

Related work