CEO Andy Cosslett closed his speech at the opening general session of InterContinental Hotels Group’s annual Americas Investors & Leadership Conference Wednesday by quoting General George Patton: “Success is how you bounce off the bottom.”

Cosslett said the company’s massive relaunch of Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express has allowed IHG to outperform its competition the last 18 months during a year that could only politely be described as “turbulent” or “frightening.” The massive undertaking will be completed in 2010 and has already reaped record high guest satisfaction scores and increased market share, Cosslett said, adding that IHG’s industry-leading pipeline of 1,500 hotels is twice that of its nearest rival. The huge numbers give IHG “head room to nurture and protect the quality of our brands,” Cosslett said, adding that between 2005-2010, 125,000 rooms will have been removed from the system in the U.S. and 160,000 new ones added. Chief Development Officer Jim Anhut said net system growth was the goal, but that retaining quality hotels was as important as adding new ones.

“IHG rejects the tyranny of ‘or,’” Cosslett said. “This or that, quality or cost savings, growth or cash flow; and instead commits itself to the genius of ‘and’. Being an ‘and’ company means finding ways of making cost reductions and improving quality. Of growing and keeping debt under control.”

Jim Abrahamson, president of the Americas, took it one step further: “It’s all about the partnership of IAHI and IHG, brands and system, occupancy and rate, effectiveness and efficiency, corporate responsibility and profitability.”

Abrahamson, who was a general manager of a Holiday Inn during the 1980s, left Hyatt and returned to help lead the company after the death of Steve Porter last year. “It was the perfect time for me to return,” he said. “I was here for the first golden age and our best years are ahead.”

By the end of this month, 1,400 Holiday Inns will have been relaunched with nearly another 2,000 still to come by the end of 2010. Another 1,000 are in the pipeline. Abrahamson said completing the relaunch will be the most important thing the company does in 2010.

The event this year focused on owners and investors rather than general managers and directors of sales as in years past. GMs weren’t mandated to attend and the cost to owners was greatly reduced. Two thousand attendees were expected at the three-day event in Washington D.C., less than half the attendance at last year’s conference in Los Angeles. The message was clear to all: Despite tough times, IHG was persevering with its Holiday Inn relaunch and other initiatives to drive revenue.

“The easy thing to do would be to pull back and collect our fees,” Abrahamson said. “Where others have retreated, we’re staying the course on our strategy.”