IHG Hotels & Resorts Announces Q3 2023 Trading Update

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced its Q3 2023 trading update through September 30, 2023. Highlights include:

• Q3 group RevPAR up 10.5 percent versus 2022, with Americas up 4.1 percent, EMEAA up 15.9 percent, and Greater China up 43.2 percent
• Q3 group RevPAR up 12.8 percent versus 2019, with Americas up 13.8 percent, EMEAA up 17.5 percent, and Greater China up 9.3 percent
• Average daily rate up 4.1 percent versus 2022, up 14.8 percent versus 2019; occupancy up 4.1 percentage points versus 2022, 1.3 percentage points versus 2019
• Gross system size growth up 6.2 percent YOY, up 3.1 percent YTD; opened 7,700 rooms (50 hotels) in Q3, similar to 2022
• Net system size growth up 4.7 percent YOY, up 2.0 percent YTD; excluding Iberostar, up 2.9 percent YOY, up 1.6 percent YTD
• Global system of 930,000 rooms (6,261 hotels); 67 percent across midscale segments, 33 percent across upscale and luxury
• Signed 16,800 rooms (123 hotels) in Q3, up 27 percent 2022; global pipeline of 292,000 rooms (1,978 hotels), up 5.1 percent YOY
• On track to have returned $1.0 billion to shareholders in 2023 through share buybacks and dividend payments

Elie Maalouf, CEO, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said, “Travel demand remained very healthy during the quarter, and I would like to thank all our teams for supporting another strong trading period. Q3 RevPAR increased 10 percent versus 2022 and 13 percent versus 2019, representing the fifth quarter of sequential improvement exceeding pre-pandemic highs. Greater China continued its excellent rebound with RevPAR now above 2019, which the Americas achieved in the second quarter of last year and EMEAA in the fourth quarter. Group-wide occupancy was 72 percent, just one percentage point behind 2019 which further confirms the near-complete return to pre-COVID levels of demand. Pricing remained very robust. As well as year-on-year RevPAR growth in each of our three regions, it was also pleasing to see rooms revenue growth for each of leisure, business, and group travel.

We opened nearly eight thousand rooms across 50 hotels in the quarter and added 17 thousand rooms to our pipeline across 123 properties. Year to date, signings are up by 16 percent. Reflecting the breadth and attractiveness of our portfolio, ‘quicker to market’ conversions have increased this year to be over one-third of openings and signings. This will soon be further boosted by our new midscale conversion brand, Garner, which became franchise ready in September. There was good development progress across all our categories, and our six Luxury & Lifestyle brands continue to represent a growing proportion of IHG with over 800 open and pipeline hotels in that category.

As IHG powers forward to provide industry-leading advantages for our guests and hotels owners across our brand portfolio, loyalty program, and entire enterprise platform, we expect to close out 2023 with very strong financial performance. Looking further ahead, whilst there are macroeconomic uncertainties and some short-term financing challenges holding back new hotel development, I am excited about the future for IHG and the attractive, long-term demand drivers for our markets. As such, we’re confident in the strengths of IHG’s business model, scale, and in our strategic priorities to capture sustainable, profitable growth.”