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InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) has reported a 3.3% increase in global RevPAR in Q1 2025, driven by globally diverse footprint and growth in its Business (+3%), Leisure (+2%) and Groups (+5%) divisions.
Regionally, its Q1 RevPAR in the Americas was up by 3.5% for the region as a whole and was also up 3.5% in the US.
Meanwhile, IHG’s EMEAA RevPar was up 5.5%. By major geographic markets within the region, RevPAR ranged from broadly flat in the UK, to up +5.6% in Continental Europe, +6.2% in the Middle East and +6.8% in East Asia and Pacific.
The latter continued to benefit from increased levels of inbound leisure travel from Greater China which contributed to strong double-digit growth in numerous countries, on top of very strong increases last year.
However, Q1 RevPAR in China was down -3.5% which was broadly in line with the previous quarter. Additionally, IHG’s average daily rate increased to 2.2% and occupancy increased to 0.6% in Q1 2025.
During the period, the group signed 25.8k rooms (158 hotels) in Q1, or 20.2k excluding the Ruby brand acquisition, compared with 17.7k in the same quarter last year, leading to a +9.4% year-on-year increase in its pipeline.
Looking ahead, whilst the group is still at an early stage of the financial year, it expects to be “on track” to meet current full year 2025 consensus profit expectations.
It also stated that periods of macro-economic uncertainties and challenges can lead to broader impacts on business and consumer confidence, which can in turn impact travel spending patterns in the shorter-term.
However, IHG is encouraged by the global revenue on the books for Q2, which continues to show growth in the same position as a year ago.
Elie Maalouf, chief executive officer, IHG Hotels and Resorts, said: “We had strong trading performance and development activity for our world class brands in Q1, despite increased volatility in the macro environment. Global RevPAR grew +3.3%, reflecting the strength of our globally diverse footprint and increases across each of our three demand drivers of Business, Leisure and Groups.
“…Demand for quick-to-market conversions to IHG’s brands and enterprise platform continues to be high, representing around 60% of openings and 40% of organic signings in the quarter. Looking ahead, while noting that some forward economic indicators have softened, our comparable on-the-books global revenue for Q2 continues to show growth in the same position a year ago.”
Maalouf added: “Our ability to capture demand across geographies and chain scales, as well as being heavily weighted to domestic stay occasions, are resilient strengths of our business. As a result, while still early, we remain on track to meet full year consensus profit expectations. The outlook of attractive long-term structural growth drivers for both demand and supply remain unaltered for the travel industry and for IHG in particular.
“The power of our growth algorithm comes from the compounding nature of increasing fee revenues through the combination of RevPAR, system expansion and ancillary fee streams, which in turn helps to grow margins and, with our strong cash generation, allows us to reinvest in our business and return surplus capital to shareholders. Notwithstanding shorter term macro-economic uncertainties, we remain confident in the strength and resilience of IHG’s enterprise platform and our ability to capitalise further on our scale, leading positions and the fundamental growth drivers for our markets.”
