Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) posted a 2.6% rise in first-quarter room revenue on Friday, helped by its performance in Japan, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
"There was an impressive performance in EMEAA, which was up nearly 9%," CEO Elie Maalouf said in a statement, referring to Europe, the UK, Australia, the Middle east and Japan.
Room Revenue
Room revenue was up 16.9% in Japan, 10.2% in Australia, 7.4% in the Middle East and 6.2% higher in Continental Europe.
The owner of the Regent and Crowne Plaza hotel chains said its occupancy was up 2 basis points and the gross system size growth was up 5%.
Travel Demand
In February, IHG said it expected to return more than $1 billion (€924 million) to shareholders in 2024 as the hotel chain operator enjoyed strong travel demand.
Chief executive Elie Maalouf also laid out his strategy, saying the company is targeting high single-digit growth in fee revenue by increasing revenue per room and the number of hotels annually on average over the medium to long term.
Share Buyback Programme
"The travel industry has attractive, long-term drivers of demand, and the strength of our brand portfolio and enterprise platform will continue to boost our RevPAR and system size growth," said Maalouf, who took over the top job last July after leading the group's largest region, the Americas, for about nine years.
IHG is also looking to build the scale of its luxury and lifestyle properties, but not at the expense of its mid-scale business.
The owner of the Crowne Plaza, Regent and Hualuxe hotel chains launched a $800 million (€740 million) share buyback programme in February.
Article by Reuters, additional reporting by Hospitality Ireland.
