InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, a hotel franchise with more than 200 luxury hotels featuring 68,000+ rooms in various countries across the globe.

InterContinental (known initially as Intercontinental Hotel Corp.) was created on April 3, 1946, as an auxiliary of Pan American World Airways to foster the execution of an idea that was formed during a White House breakfast between Pan Am president Juan Trippe and former U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt a year ago. The two thought that luxury hotels could attract tourists and businessmen in Latin America. With the help of institutions such as the Export-Import Bank of the United States in the making of the hotel, InterContinental now bills itself as the first international luxury hotel in the world. The first property under its portfolio was the Grande Hotel in Belém, Brazil, which was bought and converted into the brand. It has since then grown to several hotels even beyond Latin America.

The chain changed its name to Inter-Continental Hotels in 1972, alongside the launching of its mid-priced hotel line called Forum Hotels. Its first ever hotel was opened in the U.S. in 1973 after assuming the management of San Francisco’s Mark Hopkins Hotel. While it continues to use the Inter-Continental name, the chain has actually become one of the many brands of InterContinental Hotels Groups, known as IHG since 2003.