Holiday Inn owner IHG reports revenues up almost a quarter as full recovery expected by 2025
Holiday Inn owner InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) reported a 23 per cent rise in revenues during its half year results, as the chain was bolstered by a “healthy” demand for travel.
The British hotel group also said operating profit rose 27 per cent to $479m (£375m) up from $377m (£295m) in the same period last year.
Total revenues rose 24 per cent to $2.2bn (£1.7bn) and average occupancy levels across its over 6,000 hotels globally was up nine per cent compared to last year, just 1.3 per cent lower than 2019.
IHG said it expects occupancy to be restored to over 96 per cent of 2019 levels in 2023, and to be almost fully recovered by 2025.
Its budget chain, Holiday Inn Hotels opened seven hotels during the period and signed on another 19, including a site in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It is the group’s first major update under the reign of new chief executive Elie Maalouf who took over from former head Keith Barr in June.
Maalouf was the former head of IHG’s Americas region.
“I am honoured to take over as IHG’s group CEO and excited to look ahead with our talented teams and owners all around the world to an important next chapter of growth,” he said.
“Our teams have delivered strong results in the first half, with financial performance, hotel openings and signings all significantly above prior year comparisons.”
He added: “Travel demand is very healthy, with RevPAR improving year-on-year across all our markets and exceeding 2019 pre-pandemic peaks for four consecutive quarters. In the Americas and EMEAA regions, leisure demand has remained buoyant and business and group travel continued to strengthen, while in Greater China, demand has rebounded rapidly.”