In his new role, Sawyer will be responsible for the development and implementation of marketing strategies that support IHG’s 77 multibranded hotel properties throughout 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean. He will be based at IHG’s Americas corporate office in Atlanta, Ga.

Prior to his new role, Sawyer was director of sales and marketing at the 780-room Holiday Inn Parque Anhembi hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of the largest IHG-branded hotels in the region, as well as one of city’s most popular convention services venues. Prior to that, Sawyer served in a number of executive capacities with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, also in Brazil.

“Clay brings with him a broad marketing skill set that will enable him to leverage the full range of IHG’s marketing resources for the benefit of the region,” said Ricardo Lopez, vice president of sales and marketing, IHG Latin America and Caribbean.  “In addition, Clay’s extensive experience in hotels allows him to be a key advocate for hotels and enable him to create synergies between regional and local marketing investments.”

“These are very exciting times for the hospitality industry in Latin America and the Caribbean, and for IHG in particular,” added Sawyer.  “There is a great deal of growth in the region, and I am very pleased to be working with the world’s most recognized hotel brands, within a company whose roots in the region span 65 years.”

Sawyer, who is trilingual (English, Portuguese and Spanish), graduated from Florida International University, with a focus on marketing, finance and international business.

IHG has nearly 200 hotels in Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean, and has been serving Latin America since 1946.

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global company operating seven hotel brands including InterContinental^® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo^®, Crowne Plaza^® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn^® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express^®, Staybridge Suites^® and Candlewood Suites^®. IHG also manages Priority Club^® Rewards, one of the world’s first and largest hotel loyalty programs with almost 60 million members worldwide.

IHG is one of the world’s largest hotel groups by number of rooms and franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,400 hotels and more than 656,000 guestrooms in 100 countries and territories, and has more than 1,100 hotels in its development pipeline.