InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) said it signed a management contract with Hong Kong's Top Spring Group to operate one Crowne Plaza hotel and two Holiday Inn Express hotels in Changzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province.

The three hotels will be developed by Hong Kong-based Top Spring Group and will be part of the 580,000 square meters mixed-use Landmark International Commercial Center in Changzhou.

The company also signed a strategic partnership with Top Spring Group, giving it preferential branding and management rights to all of Top Spring's upcoming hotel developments across China.

The 208-room Holiday Inn Express City Center Changzhou is scheduled to open by end of 2008 while the 288-room Crowne Plaza Changzhou and 308-room Holiday Inn Express Landmark Changzhou are due to open by 2011.

"We recognize the growing needs of the hotel industry in Changzhou and other parts of China," said Wong Chun Hong, chairman and managing director of Top Spring Group.

"We are confident that IHG's world-recognized hotel brands and established operating systems will help our hotels provide the highest quality of products and services to our guests," he said.

(US$1 = 7.63 yuan)