IHG buys the Ruby hotel chain, including three sites in London

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• Lumma says:

  19 Feb19 February 05:44

  Stayed in the one in Vienna. Was OK but felt it was trying too hard to be “cool”. I think they even pay for tattoos for staff after certain lengths of service.

  The room had a completely open to the bedroom shower, without even a curtain for privacy which also resulted in a wet floor

  • BJ says:

    19 Feb19 February 06:39

    That with the tattoos seems so weird to me. What’s going on, does the chain seriously want staff with visible tattoos?

    I dislike this trend towards open and semi-open bathrooms in hotels. I have no problem with nudity but can think of several reasons why they might be inappropriate in hotel rooms. Hotels with such designs need to be much clearer about them in room descriptions.

    • JDB says:

      19 Feb19 February 07:17

      I hope the employers later get sued by the employees for encouraging and participating in having their staff tattooed.

      • BJ says:

        19 Feb19 February 09:18

        I would hope so too but I suspect the paperwork is already very protective.

  • jj says:

    19 Feb19 February 07:51

    @Lumma, sounds like a concept that will look very dated in 15 years time when the current crop of urban hipsters have become unfashionably middle aged but still want to cling to the symbols of their youth.

  • Ken says:

    19 Feb19 February 08:16

    I’d be more impressed if they paid staff to get rid of their tattoos.

    I know it makes me look ‘judgey’, but I absolutely loathe them fresh never mind when they have aged 10-15 years later, and look even worse.

    Yeah, yeah , live and let live and all that.

  • RussellH says:

    19 Feb19 February 10:31

    The open shower is really not that unusual in Austria, and it does seem to be predominantly those from the UK who are up in arms about it.
    I saw my first one in Jan 2009, in Steyr during a site inspection with about 30 other tour operators and travel journalists en route to the ACTB trade fair in Vienna.
    My Scottish colleagues were, frankly, appalled. The English were only un-keen, shall we say. The Aussies and other Europeans did not bat an eyelid; one or two approved.

    Knowing full well that most of my Scottish colleagues customer base were coach groups for the more elderly, as well as being fully aware of general Scottish attitudes to nudity after living and working there for almost 30 years, I was hardly surprised.
    Nevertheless, travel is supposed to broaden the mind.

    • Milaneser says:

      19 Feb19 February 11:52

      If you want to really broaden the mind, try a weekend in Kirkcaldy 🙂

    • BJ says:

      19 Feb19 February 11:53

      I don’t have a problem with them other than that they remove (or more correctly complicate) the right of the individual to exercise privacy if they wish. Desire for privacy will vary enormously between friends, colleagues, couples, families irespectivevof where they come from and common views and attitudes in their own countries.

    • apbj says:

      19 Feb19 February 12:00

      Struggling to see a connection between being broad-minded and not wanting to shower openly in front of a parent or room-mate. Very odd.

      There are clear glass partitions between bed and shower/toilet in the AC Hotel Madrid Atocha; most of us do not want to see our spouse having a bowel movement, never mind a work colleague. It’s not ‘cool’ or ‘sexy’, just poor design.

    • jj says:

      19 Feb19 February 12:15

      @RusselH, if I’m staying solo or with my wife, an open shower is fine. If I’m sharing with a mate, it’s much less fine. Sharing the room with kids, it’s a problem.

      Just because you’re fine, don’t assume everyone is.

      • RussellH says:

        19 Feb19 February 13:29

        Please, my name does not include an”@” symbol. Why do people add it?

        And I was just pointing out that there are differences in behaviour and belief as to what is or is not problematic between countries.
        I am just a week back from a stay in Austria – I did not see an open shower in any of the rooms, but in the very extensive wellness area all sorts of people were wandering around without clothing, and the mixed changing and locker area had just two tiny spaces with a door for those who wanted to change behind a closed door.

        • meta says:

          19 Feb19 February 13:34

          @RussellH If you’re commenting on a website and in the forums in 2025 you should know what @ in front of the name means.

        • BJ says:

          19 Feb19 February 14:53

          @Russell, that is neither here nor there, people know the score and can choose or not to go there and use the facilities. I do not disagree with you that in some countries nudity in public places and in private spaces such as family homes is muvh more common and widely practiced than in others. However, in all of them exceptions either way are not unusual. A hotel room is different, it is a small confined space so if someone staying has a problem with it then it creates both unnecessary embarrassment for them abd others sharing the room. Hence it’s just simpker if hotel room bathrooms are private.

        • Gordon says:

          19 Feb19 February 15:23

          I remember you telling JDB off for using the @ symbol, last year, saying hfp is not a microblogging site IIRC, and he replied to you without it! Anyway I use it in the daily chat, as it clearly highlights in blue who you are addressing, or sometimes the quote button, but with the quote button your reply can go into the spam filter, waiting to be rescued, which can be frustrating, I presume the @ symbol is used in certain social media sites, but I don’t use them, so I am unsure.

        • RussellH says:

          19 Feb19 February 16:55

          Meta,
          I have been commenting on the internet since the 1980s. I have no idea what an “@” in front of one’s name indicates, but then I only ever see it here.

          Gordon,
          Yes, I did say something to JDB sometime ago, and I was glad that he dropped it, though he still seems to use it everywhere else.

          > Anyway I use it in the daily chat, as it clearly highlights in blue who you are
          > addressing, or sometimes the quote button…

          If you put someone’s name at the start, I would have thought it was blindingly obvious that you were replying to them, without their name turning blue.
          What would be good would be if when I quote here, using internet standard “>” marks, the quotes were in a different colour, but it seems that web browsers cannot / will not do that.

• Dace says:

  19 Feb19 February 06:22

  Not sure this was completely necessary for IHG. Indigo/Voco seem to have this segment pretty much covered. What IHG really need(ed) to do was to keep/get hold of a SLH or Mr and Mrs Smith.

  • BJ says:

    19 Feb19 February 06:46

    I’m not sure there is even any point to try and distinguish between brands and segments anymore, there are now so many of them across all major chains that it’s getting a bit silly. For example, the recent Tribe review just came over as Ibis Styles to me.

  • JDB says:

    19 Feb19 February 07:06

    Trouble is those groupings like SLH don’t sit at all comfortably within these giant faceless chains and some of the individual hotels aren’t too happy about people demanding benefits they think they are entitled to by virtue of some super non exclusive membership.

  • John says:

    19 Feb19 February 08:23

    Indigo is not a conversion brand. voco is, but it targets more the traditional upscale segment. Ruby is different: It targets more Gen Y and Gen Z-ers with large communal spaces, Instagram-able bar, top location for a reasonable price due to compact rooms.

    Garner is also a conversion brand targeting, among others, Gen X and Y. But it’s in the economy segment.

    Vignette collection is also a conversion brand but more upscale than Ruby. IHG sees it somewhere between Kimpton and Intercontinental.

    While I think Ruby is somewhat similar to Indigo, it goes quite a bit further when it comes to small rooms, but larger communal spaces.

    I’ve never been to a Ruby but I would agree with HfP that both the M&A strategy as well as the hotel concept make it similar to me and all.

    In the bigger picture, I think this is one of the big chains trying to grab market share in times when the low-hanging fruits have all been picked already.

    • BJ says:

      19 Feb19 February 09:16

      How do you know all this stuff John, and more importantly how is Joe Bloggs supposed to know given they will stay in hotels much less frequently than HfP community?

      • John says:

        19 Feb19 February 09:36

        I think you’re right most people don’t know about IHG’s 20 brands or Accor’s 40 brands. But I don’t think they have to. There’s influencer marketing, there is strong personalization on Google Maps, there is TripAdvisor, the recommendation engine of IHG.com as well as the one of booking.com…

        • BJ says:

          19 Feb19 February 09:48

          I suppose my problem is that I have not fully-embraced the information age 🙂 To me a hotel is just a place to sleep, wash and eat that falls into 3 price brackets – budget, mud-scale and high-end, the rest just passes me by. Despite that I have come to recognise a personal preference for Indigo and Staybridge within IHG so perhaps all is not lost.

        • Rob says:

          19 Feb19 February 10:05

          You’re missing the point a little. Simply by existing, a hotel will get a certain number of bookings per night if they price correctly via Expedia etc, from previous guests, from people who know its convenient for where they need to be. This is your base line occupancy.

          Stick a brand on the front and you attract additional business PURELY because you are part of a big loyalty programme.

          Hotels have high fixed costs and low marginal costs so this additional business on top is disproportionately important to your profits. If there is enough of it, you can also push up your rates vs competitors.

          Whenever I talk to hotel managers I’m shocked by the % of guests which are programme members, especially elite members. IHG says that 50% of all room nights globally are booked by programme members.

          Hyatt Regency Blackfriars, for eg, told me that 75% of guests are World of Hyatt members. This hotel used to be a Crowne Plaza before rebranding. The guest profile has changed entirely.

        • meta says:

          19 Feb19 February 10:39

          @BJ But hotel is not just a place to sleep, wash and eat. If you really think that you can just stay in a hostel with twenty other people in the room or the cheapest room with the owner next door. You don’t need Indigo or Staybridge.

        • BJ says:

          19 Feb19 February 12:07

          @meta, I do understant that hotels and resorts are many different things for different people. However that is what they are for me most places most of the time. A hostel won’t do for me though, there is a minimum standard of room, furnishings, cleanliness et that I am prepared to accept. I generally don’t choose between budget, mid-scale and high end based on price but rather on what offers best value in location I want at the time I want.. mist of the time this happens to be mid-scale hotels. I only specifically seek out high-end hotels when celebrating a special occasion which are few and far between.

        • meta says:

          19 Feb19 February 13:36

          @BJ You prove exactly my point. Hotel for you isn’t just the place to sleep, wash and eat.

        • BJ says:

          19 Feb19 February 15:02

          @meta I thought you meant other stuff like using thr bar, pool etc. I can, and have in my student days, slept, ate and washed at railway stations and beaches. Hotels are just a niver places to do the same things. On the rare occasions I stay high end places it is still just about eating and sleeping in more comfortable room and hoprfully a proprtly cooked to order breakfast that hoes bryond the usual.

    • Rob says:

      19 Feb19 February 10:12

      Also worth noting that ‘conversion’ brands are attractive at the moment because high interest rates make it more difficult for developers to raise funding to build new hotels.

• Chabuddy Geezy says:

  19 Feb19 February 08:01

  I would definitely stay if they opened a Ruby Murray Hotel near Brick Lane 😉

  • Ken says:

    19 Feb19 February 08:20

    Would be interested if anyone could recommend any decent ‘Indians’ on Brick lane these days.
    Ate there a lot 35 years ago but last 2 returns had terrible meals. And I mean probably the worst ‘Indian’ meals I’ve ever had.

    • Nick says:

      19 Feb19 February 11:05

      There aren’t any. Once you can trade off your name/location/fame you’re effectively incentivised to increase profits by reducing quality.

      If you want decent Bengali (what you mean by ‘Indian’ in inverted commas) go more suburban, there are plenty of excellent neighbourhood ones. And you can barely move in Southall for excellent Punjabi food. Or go more upmarket, there are a lot of decent places in central London with more authentic menus now than when Brick Lane developed.

      • BJ says:

        19 Feb19 February 12:16

        Mom and pop places can often be great but come with huge risks too. In Portland many years ago I popped into a small Italian place which could more aptly be described as granny and granps place. Lovely old couple but their cooking was disastrous; I don’t think they realised it and I felt compelled to eat it for fear of offending them.

• NorthernLass says:

  19 Feb19 February 08:36

  These look quite nice, remind me of voco or Vignette properties. I noticed there are a couple in cities which currently don’t have many IHG options, like Cologne.

• Gordon says:

  19 Feb19 February 09:00

  Moxy bath road springs to mind, a Ruby on steroids! It has a mini vehicle in the foyer also a wall containing portholes with phots in, a large biplane suspended from ceiling, amongst other weird and wonderful touches.

  • BJ says:

    19 Feb19 February 09:12

    Sounds like a transport museum 🙂

  • Panda Mick says:

    19 Feb19 February 09:15

    Moxy is my goto chain for Malpensa and Linate overnights. Despite the terrible pillows, the “vibe” seems to not be forced on you, and the bar is a pleasant place to stay. However, I walked from the Moxy to the Sheraton last year at MXP because the food selection was, shall we say, sub par.

    Footnotes: Don’t walk: there’s no footpath for at least half of the way. The foot in the Sheraton was lovely. The ambience not so much because you’re eating in an atrium

    • Brian says:

      19 Feb19 February 10:19

      Was it a left foot or a right foot in the Sheraton? 🙂

      • Peter K says:

        19 Feb19 February 10:53

        🙂

    • tw33ty says:

      19 Feb19 February 11:58

      Out of all the moxys I’ve been to, I really like the ones at cdg and Hamburg, even if there’s nothing really near the moxy at cdg.
      The ones is Lausanne and Bern for me deserve an honourable mention too.

  • RussellH says:

    19 Feb19 February 10:39

    That is the only Moxy I have stayed in, and quite liked it.
    Location has a lot to do with it – far enough away from LHR and basic enough that it was not at all expensive – but with a bus stop for the terminal opposite the front door.

    • Gordon says:

      19 Feb19 February 10:59

      I agree, I have two weeks parking through your parking space in the car park in 4 weeks time. And the bus stop is handy.

• Irons80 says:

  19 Feb19 February 09:39

  As ever people don’t know how brands or marketing works – they launch more and new brands for the reason to expand as if you’re an Indigo or a Voco or CP owner you won’t another one of those brands on your patch (all hotels are franchises) so what the brand owner does is launch more brands to be able to put another hotel nearby and which they can show other owners is a different brand with a different target consumer. That’s all it’s about…

  • TGLoyalty says:

    19 Feb19 February 10:13

    I mean it makes me laugh when they say things like how many brands do these groups need

    Well since there’s literally thousands of them around they want them all.

    They want the business Expedia has to themselves.

    Red was already a brand it’s just now part of a bigger group and will pick up a load of new customers

• Novice says:

  19 Feb19 February 09:43

  This sounds awful. I am sick of these hotel chains having so many brands. I always forget about the hierarchy. Always have to check which order are they placed in. So, now I don’t bother, just check room size, amenities and location and pics; depending on how long I am staying do research or don’t bother.

  • BJ says:

    19 Feb19 February 09:58

    It used to be easy because it used to be largely based on a distinctive hierarchy. The problem now is that there are many parallel niche brands that are both difficult to distinguish and place within a hierarchy.. i think best just to create a shortlist on a stay by stay basis based on value and location then research reviews to figure out best fit.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    19 Feb19 February 10:14

    Why not just treat it the way you would with any other booking site and pick the one in the best location for you that looks the nicest for the price you can afford.

    • Novice says:

      19 Feb19 February 10:53

      Well that’s what I do now. But it’s about expectations. A person expects a different experience in luxury collection property than autograph collection etc. I would prefer if it was easier to establish what brands are actually upscale.

• BA-Flyer says:

  19 Feb19 February 09:47

  Any hotel which boasts that you can “grab a guitar from the bar and plug into the Marshall amp in your room”, is not for me. The last thing I want is to hear the person in the room next to me playing the guitar (regardless of how well they play it).

  • TGLoyalty says:

    19 Feb19 February 10:15

    I bet the vent diagram of people that stay there and would actually do it is extremely limited if not nil.

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