InterContinental Hotels Group has revealed that its full-year room revenue grew as more people checked into its 380 hotels in the Greater China region.
The Denham, UK-based owner of brands such as Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and InterContinental said that revenue per available room grew 2.5% in the twelve months to December 31, slightly lower than the 2.7% growth reported a year earlier.
The group posted a 7.7% rise in 2018 operating profit to $816 million, higher than the $807.54 million expected by analysts, according to company supplied consensus estimates.
"While there are macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties in some markets, we are confident in the year ahead...," CEO Keith Barr said in a statement.
Barr has steered IHG towards affluent Chinese customers to lessen the firm's dependence on highly mature US markets, while aggressively rebranding to compete against the likes of Marriott and Hilton, which have sprawling luxury portfolios, including the Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Waldorf Astoria and DoubleTree.
RevPAR
The group's Greater China operations registered a 6.9% rise in comparable RevPAR, a key hotel industry metric, with room revenue rising 1.9% in the United States, its largest market.
IHG has banked on corporate demand but has lately struggled to adapt to the changing travel landscape as business travellers and holidaymakers increasingly opt for cheaper accommodation offered by Airbnb.
"Confident" Outlook
IHG, which has said it would return $500 million to shareholders through a special dividend by the first quarter of 2019, proposed a 10% rise in its final dividend to 78.1 cents, citing its "confident" outlook.
The group has often returned surplus cash to investors, but disappointed them last year when it said it won't pay out any additional capital after announcing plans to go more upmarket.
News by Reuters, edited by Hospitality Ireland. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
