InterContinental Seoul COEX to close in July

Parnas Hotel announced on Monday that the InterContinental Seoul COEX, which opened in 1999, will close its operations on July 1 and is scheduled to reopen in September next year as Marriott International's Westin Seoul Parnas.

The Westin Seoul Parnas will be owned and operated by Parnas Hotel.

Parnas Hotel also operates IHG's Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas.

InterContinental is a luxury brand under the global hotel chain group IHG.

With this change, Parnas Hotel will become the first in Korea to simultaneously own hotels affiliated with IHG and Marriott International.

Parnas Hotel plans to launch various independent brands in the second half of this year.

For the first quarter, Parnas Hotel reported a non-consolidated sales revenue of 109.7 billion won ($80.4 million), an increase of 12.7% year over year.

Operating profit increased by 13.5% to 24.4 billion won ($17.9 million). Both sales revenue and operating profit are the highest ever for a first quarter.

Write to Jae-Kwang Ahn at ahnjk@hankyung.com