REG - Interco. Hotels Grp - 1st Quarter Results

Intercontinental HotelsAnnouncement

07/05/2026 07:00

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RNS Number : 3193D  InterContinental Hotels Group PLC  07 May 2026

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

2026 First Quarter Trading Update

7 May 2026

 

 

 Very strong Q1 trading performance with better than expected Global RevPAR
 growth of +4.4%.

 Continued development momentum, with underlying signings and openings ahead of
 last year.

 Confident of achieving consensus growth forecasts and profit expectations.

 

 Highlights

 

•  Q1 global RevPAR +4.4%, with Americas +3.6%, EMEAA +5.6% and Greater
China +5.7%

•  Q1 global rooms revenue on a comparable basis strongest for Groups +7%
and Business +6%, with Leisure +1%

•  Average daily rate +2.0% and occupancy +1.5%pts

•  Gross system size growth +6.6% YOY, +1.4% YTD; opened 14.9k rooms (82
hotels) in Q1, +2% more than the same period last year

•  Net system size growth +5.0% YOY, +0.9% YTD; global system of 1,036k
rooms (7,014 hotels)

•  Signed 21.4k rooms (163 hotels) in Q1, +6% more than the same period
last year when excluding the Ruby brand acquisition in the comparable period;
global pipeline of 343k rooms (2,347 hotels), +3% YOY

•  $240m of 2026's $950m share buyback programme completed to date,
reducing the share count by 1.1%

 

 

 Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said:

 

"With thanks to our teams we delivered a very strong Q1 trading performance,
benefiting from our diverse global footprint and better than expected demand
in most regions around the world. Global RevPAR grew +4.4%, with notable
strength in the US on top of good growth this time last year, and further
acceleration in Greater China following a return to growth in the prior
quarter. Our diverse EMEAA region also performed well despite challenges from
the conflict in the Middle East, where we continue to do all we can to support
our guests, teams and owners.

 

We are proud to have reached the milestone of more than 7,000 hotels, having
opened 82 properties during Q1. Strong pipeline momentum continued with the
signing of 163 hotels, which was ahead of 2025. This included the first
signing for our new Premium brand Noted Collection in EMEAA and the arrival of
our Essentials conversion brand Garner into Greater China. Demand for
quick-to-market conversions to IHG's brands and enterprise platform continues
to be high, representing 35% of rooms opened and 53% of signings in the
quarter.

 

Looking ahead, our comparable on-the-books global revenue for Q2 indicates
continued growth, with the impact of the Middle East conflict and some wider
disruption to international travel flows expected to be more than offset by
increases in demand elsewhere. Our business model is strategically diversified
and resilient in capturing demand across geographies, chain scales and the
different stay occasions of business, leisure and groups travel, as well as
being heavily weighted to domestic and intra-regional travel. While still
early, our confidence of achieving full year consensus growth forecasts and
profit expectations is underpinned by the strength of our performance
year-to-date. We are delivering on our strategic priorities and growth
algorithm, which capitalises on the scale and capabilities of IHG's platform,
our leading positions and the attractive long-term structural growth drivers
for both demand and supply across our markets."

 

 

 Regional performance

 

Americas

Q1 RevPAR grew +3.6% for the region and was up +3.4% in the US. Notably, this
came on top of strong comparatives this time last year and with continued
momentum expected. Rate was up +2.0% year-on-year for the region in the first
quarter of 2026, and occupancy increased +0.9%pts to 63.6%. By demand driver,
Q1 rooms revenue on a comparable basis was strongest in Groups and Business,
up +9% and +6% respectively, while Leisure was broadly flat compared with
2025. With a continuation of good trading in the second quarter to date, the
rolling 8 weeks to Saturday 2 May in aggregate, which normalises for the
timing shift of holiday periods within March and April, indicated a further
improvement in RevPAR growth to that reported for the first quarter.

 

Gross system growth was +3.5% YOY and +0.7% YTD, with 3.5k rooms (24 hotels)
opened in the quarter, broadly similar to the strong increase in room openings
achieved in the comparable period last year. Net system growth was +1.8% YOY
and flat YTD, both stronger than the performance this time last year. There
were 5.9k rooms (65 hotels) added to the pipeline in the quarter, representing
+32% more rooms signed than the comparable period. These included 23 hotel
signings across the Holiday Inn Brand Family, and 22 across our extended stay
brands. Garner, our midscale conversion brand, made further strong progress,
and now exceeds 100 open and pipeline hotels in the region and almost 200
globally. We also achieved the debut signing for the Ruby brand in the US.

 

 

 

EMEAA

We achieved another quarter of strong demand for this diverse region, despite
the significant disruption to operations in the Middle East caused by conflict
from the start of March. Q1 RevPAR was up +5.6%, though growth moderated
through the quarter, easing from +7% in the first two months to around +2% in
March. Rate was up +2.2% for the quarter and occupancy increased +2.1%pts to
67.8%. The intra-quarter RevPAR deceleration was driven by the Middle East
sub-region, which accounts for 5% of IHG's system size globally and 19% of
EMEAA. Middle East RevPAR moved from growth of +9% in the first two months to
a decline of 26% in March, resulting in a decrease of 2% for Q1 overall. For
the other major geographic markets within the EMEAA region, Q1 RevPAR grew
+3.0% in the UK, +5.4% in Continental Europe and was up +11.0% in East Asia
& Pacific. To date in Q2, the Middle East trading performance has moved to
an estimated RevPAR decline closer to 50%, and together with some elements of
broader impact that lessened the growth rates elsewhere in the wider region,
has led to RevPAR down approximately 7% for EMEAA overall in April. An
improvement in trading is indicated by EMEAA's comparable on-the-books revenue
for May and June.

 

Gross system growth was +8.0% YOY and +1.3% YTD, with 3.9k rooms (21 hotels)
opened in the quarter. Net system  growth was +7.1% YOY and +1.0% YTD. There
were 7.1k rooms (46 hotels) added to the pipeline. Ongoing strength in
attracting conversions throughout the region led to 17 signings across the
Garner, voco and Vignette Collection brands, as well as the debut signing for
the recently launched Noted Collection brand. There were three further
signings for the Ruby brand in Europe, taking its global open and pipeline
estate to 40 hotels in total.

 

Greater China

RevPAR growth accelerated in Q1 to +5.7%, after returning to growth in the
prior quarter, supported in the latest period by strong leisure demand over
the Chinese New Year festive period and an improvement in Business travel.
Rate was up +1.8% and occupancy increased +2.0%pts to 53.6%. Tier 1 cities saw
RevPAR up +6.4%, whilst Tier 2-4 cities were up +2.9%.

 

Development activity has continued at record momentum. Gross system growth was
+12.9% YOY and +3.6% YTD, with 7.5k rooms (37 hotels) opened in the quarter.
This was +73% more rooms than the same quarter last year and included the
milestone of surpassing 900 open hotels in the region. Net system growth was
+10.4% YOY and +3.4% YTD. There were 8.4k rooms (52 hotels) added to the
pipeline, similar to the strong first quarter last year. These included the
first four signings for the Garner brand following its recent launch in the
region, one of which also opened in the quarter.

 

 Share buyback progress

 

As announced at the time of reporting our 2025 full year results on 17
February, a new $950m share buyback programme is returning surplus capital to
shareholders in 2026. This follows the $900m programme in 2025, $800m in 2024,
$750m in 2023 and the $500m programme announced in 2022, which already reduced
the total number of voting rights in the Company in these years by 4.8%, 4.6%,
6.1% and 5.0%, respectively. The 2026 programme is 25% complete with $240m
cumulatively spent to date, repurchasing 1.7 million shares. The 2026
programme to date has therefore reduced the total number of voting rights in
the Company by a further 1.1% to 150.0 million as at market close on Wednesday
6 May 2026.

 

The $950m share buyback programme, together with the anticipated sustainable
growth in ordinary dividend payments which IHG has increased at a rate of 10%
a year for each of the last four years, would result in over $1.2bn being
returned to shareholders in 2026. This is equivalent to 5.8% of IHG's $21.3bn
market capitalisation at the start of 2026, and 5.6% of IHG's most recent
$21.9bn market capitalisation.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations:         Stuart Ford (+44 (0)7823 828 739); Kate
Carpenter (+44 (0)7825 655 702);

Joe Simpson (+44 (0)7976 862 072)

Media Relations:           Neil Maidment (+44 (0)7970 668 250); Mike
Ward (+44 (0)7795 257 407)

 

Conference call for analysts and institutional investors:

Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, and Michael Glover, Chief Financial
Officer, will host a conference call commencing at 9:00am (London time) today,
7 May 2026. This can be listened to
via
www.ihgplc.com/en/investors/results-and-presentations
(https://www.ihgplc.com/investors/results-reports-and-presentations) .
Analysts and institutional investors wishing to ask questions are required to
register at the IHG Hotels & Resorts 2026 First Quarter Trading Update
Q&A Registration Page (https://registrations.events/direct/LON518438192)
   (https://registrations.events/direct/LON518438192
(https://registrations.events/direct/LON518438192) ). Once registered, a
calendar invite will be sent including dial-in details for the Q&A and a
unique passcode. Press *1 to ask a question, *1 again to withdraw your
question, or *0 for operator assistance. For any technical issues during the
webcast please reach out to issuerservices@lseg.com
(file:///C%3A/Users/fordstu/Downloads/issuerservices@lseg.com) .

 

An archived replay is expected to be available within 24 hours and will remain
available, accessed at
www.ihgplc.com/en/investors/results-and-presentations
(https://www.ihgplc.com/investors/results-reports-and-presentations) .

 

Website:

The full release and supplementary data will be available on
www.ihgplc.com/en/investors/results-and-presentations
(http://www.ihgplc.com/en/investors/results-and-presentations)

 from 7:00am (London time) on 7 May 2026.

 

Appendix 1: RevPAR(a) movement summary at constant exchange rates (CER)

                Q1 2026 vs 2025
                RevPAR  ADR     Occupancy
 Global         +4.4%   +2.0%   +1.5%pts
 Americas       +3.6%   +2.0%   +0.9%pts
 EMEAA          +5.6%   +2.2%   +2.1%pts
 Greater China  +5.7%   +1.8%   +2.0%pts

 

Appendix 2: RevPAR(a) movement at CER vs actual exchange rates (AER)

                Q1 2026 vs 2025
                CER (as above)  AER     Difference
 Global         +4.4%           +7.1%   +2.7%pts
 Americas       +3.6%           +4.5%   +0.9%pts
 EMEAA          +5.6%           +11.0%  +5.4%pts
 Greater China  +5.7%           +10.5%  +4.8%pts

 

Appendix 3: System and pipeline summary of Q1 2026 YTD and YOY growths, and
closing positions (rooms)

                System                                               Pipeline
                Openings  Removals  Net    Total      YTD%   YOY%    Signings  Total

 Global         14,867    (5,455)   9,412  1,035,589  +0.9%  +5.0%   21,431    343,189
 Americas       3,472     (3,970)   (498)  528,696    -0.1%  +1.8%   5,913     106,505
 EMEAA          3,861     (1,080)   2,781  290,383    +1.0%  +7.1%   7,123     118,700
 Greater China  7,534     (405)     7,129  216,510    +3.4%  +10.4%  8,395     117,984

(a.    ) RevPAR (revenue per available room), ADR (average daily rate) and
occupancy are on a comparable basis, based on comparability as at 31 March
2026 and includes hotels that have traded in all months in both the current
and the prior year. The principal exclusions in deriving these measures are
new openings, properties under major refurbishments and removals. See 'Use of
key performance measures and non-GAAP measures' in IHG's full year and half
year results announcements for further information on the definitions.

( )

About IHG Hotels & Resorts:

IHG Hotels & Resorts (https://www.ihgplc.com/) (tickers: LON:IHG for
Ordinary Shares; NYSE:IHG for ADRs) is a global hospitality company, with a
purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.

 

With a family of 21 hotel brands and IHG One Rewards
(https://www.ihg.com/rewardsclub/us/en/enrollment/join?offeriD=KCWUS) , one of
the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes with over 160 million members,
IHG has more than one million rooms across 7,000 open hotels in over 100
countries, and a development pipeline of a further 2,300 properties.

 

•     Luxury & Lifestyle: Six Senses (https://www.sixsenses.com/) ,
Regent (https://www.regenthotels.com/) , InterContinental
(http://www.intercontinental.com/hotels/gb/en/reservation) , Vignette
Collection (https://www.vignettecollectionhotels.com/) , Kimpton
(https://www.ihg.com/kimptonhotels/hotels/gb/en/reservation) , Hotel Indigo
(http://www.ihg.com/hotelindigo/hotels/gb/en/reservation)

•      Premium: Noted Collection (https://notedcollection.com/) , voco
(https://www.ihg.com/voco/hotels/gb/en/reservation) , Ruby
(https://www.ruby-hotels.com/) , HUALUXE
(https://www.ihg.com/hualuxe/hotels/gb/en/reservation) , Crowne Plaza
(http://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/gb/en/reservation) , EVEN
(http://www.ihg.com/evenhotels/hotels/us/en/reservation)

•     Essentials: Holiday Inn Express
(http://www.ihg.com/holidayinnexpress/hotels/gb/en/reservation) , Holiday Inn
Hotels & Resorts (http://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/gb/en/reservation)
, Garner (https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/garner-hotels) , avid
(https://www.ihg.com/avidhotels/hotels/us/en/reservation)

•     Suites: Atwell Suites (https://www.atwellsuites.com/) , Staybridge
Suites (http://www.ihg.com/staybridge/hotels/gb/en/reservation) , Holiday Inn
Club Vacations
(https://www.ihg.com/holidayinnclubvacations/hotels/us/en/reservation) ,
Candlewood Suites (http://www.ihg.com/candlewood/hotels/us/en/reservation)

•     Exclusive Partners: Iberostar Beachfront Resorts
(https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/iberostar-beachfront-resorts)

 

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is
incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 400,000 people
work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

 

Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations
(https://www.ihg.com/) and IHG One Rewards (https://www.ihg.com/onerewards) .
To download the IHG One Rewards app, visit the Apple App
(https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ihg-hotel-deals-rewards/id368217298) or Google
Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ihg.apps.android)
stores.

 

For our latest news, visit our Newsroom
(https://www.ihgplc.com/en/news-and-media) and follow us on LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/ihghotels&resorts/) .

 

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements:

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements as defined under
United States law (Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) and
otherwise. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that
they do not relate only to historical or current facts. Forward-looking
statements often use words such as 'anticipate', 'target', 'expect',
'estimate', 'intend', 'plan', 'goal', 'believe' or other words of similar
meaning. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC's management in light of their experience
and their perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future
developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. By their
nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive, speculative and
involve risk and uncertainty. There are a number of factors that could cause
actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in,
or implied by, such forward-looking statements. The main factors that could
affect the business and the financial results are described in the 'Risk
Factors' section in the current InterContinental Hotels Group PLC's Annual
report and Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission.

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