InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has published the results for Q1 showing global RevPAR was up 2.7%, with rate up 0.8% and occupancy up 1.2% points.
The shift in timing of Easter out of Q1 had a positive impact, especially in the Americas and Europe, which we expect to reverse in Q2.
During the period, the company opened 7k rooms, increasing net system size 3.4% YoY to 767k rooms. There are now 14k rooms (112 hotels) signed, and 232k rooms in the pipeline.
RevPAR was up 6.9%. In the UK, RevPAR outperformed the industry, growing almost 8%, with rate up 5% and occupancy increasing 1.8%pts. London RevPAR grew 12%, benefitting from increased international inbound travel, and the provinces continued to grow mid-single digits.
Richard Solomons, Chief Executive, said, “We have made a good start to 2017, with 3.4% net system size growth year-on-year and 2.7% RevPAR growth driven by increases in both rate and occupancy, and benefitting from the later timing of Easter.
'We continued our focus on building and leveraging scale in our priority markets, opening 49 hotels in the quarter, including our 300th for Greater China, and signing hotels into our pipeline at the fastest rate for the first quarter since 2008.
'Despite the uncertain economic and political environment in some markets, we remain confident in the outlook for 2017 and our ability to deliver sustainable growth into the future.”