IHG's Q3 Trading Update Revealed

Q3 Trading Update to 30 September 2024

Highlights

• Q3 global RevPAR +1.5%, with Americas +1.7%, EMEAA +4.9% and Greater China -10.3%
• Q3 global rooms revenue on a comparable hotels basis saw Group demand +6%, Business +2% and Leisure broadly flat on the same quarter last year
• YTD global RevPAR +2.4%, with Americas +1.8%, EMEAA +6.4% and Greater China -5.6%
• Average daily rate +1.7% and occupancy -0.1%pts in Q3, +1.9% and +0.4%pts respectively YTD
• Gross system size growth +5.9% YOY, +3.7% YTD; opened 17.5k rooms (98 hotels) in Q3, representing another quarter of sequential improvement and very significantly ahead of the 7.7k in the same period last year
• Net system size growth +4.1% YOY, +2.3% YTD; global system of 968k rooms (6,505 hotels)
• Signed 19.2k rooms (129 hotels) in Q3, +14% YOY; global pipeline of 327k rooms (2,218 hotels), +12% YOY
• $614m of 2024’s $800m share buyback programme completed to date, reducing the share count by 3.7%
• On track to return over $1bn to shareholders in 2024 through dividend payments and share buybacks
• Expect to finish 2024 in line with market expectations and our growth algorithm

STATEMENTS

Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said: “We are pleased with the latest trading performance and another strong period of development activity, and we are on track to finish 2024 in line with market expectations. RevPAR grew +1.5% in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting the strength of our globally diverse footprint, healthy business demand and a record period for Group bookings. Our EMEAA region again performed strongly, up +4.9%, and the Americas increased by +1.7%, driven by continued growth in the US. In Greater China, RevPAR was down -10.3% as we came up against strong comparatives of resurgent domestic travel this time last year, and the quarter was still broadly in line with 2019 levels.

Our development performance was particularly notable. We opened 17.5k rooms across 98 hotels, well over double the same period last year, partly due to the next 6.2k rooms of the NOVUM Hospitality agreement joining IHG’s system. A strong signing performance of 19.2k rooms across 129 properties was +14% more than in 2023, leading to a +12% year-on-year increase in our pipeline. ‘Quicker to market’ conversions represented over 50% of openings and 40% of Q3 signings, a clear reflection of the strength and appeal of our brands and wider enterprise to owners, and we’ve also seen the advance in new-build signings over the year as developer confidence continued to improve. In fact, in Greater China, reflecting the attractive long-term demand drivers, our excellent development momentum should lead to 2024 being one of the biggest-ever years for both hotel openings and signings in this region.

This year, we have made great progress in strengthening IHG’s enterprise platform further, growing our brands, and delivering on our growth algorithm. The power of this algorithm comes from the compounding nature of growing fee revenues through the combination of RevPAR, system expansion and ancillary fee streams, which in turn helps to increase margins and, with our strong cash generation, allows us to reinvest in our business and return surplus capital to shareholders. We remain confident in our abilities to capitalise on our scale, leading positions and the attractive, long-term demand drivers for our markets.”