Maalouf taking top spot as IHG reports strong 1Q

LONDON – InterContinental Hotels Group reported a strong 1Q23 on Friday and announced IHG Americas CEO Elie Maalouf will be elevated to the role of group chief executive officer on July 1, succeeding Keith Barr, who informed the board he was stepping down to return to his family in the U.S.

Maalouf has been in the regional CEO role for the past eight years and is a member of IHG’s board and executive committee. Barr has been with IHG for more than 30 years and led the company since July 2017. He will remain available through 2023 to help with the transition and IHG said a process is underway to appoint a successor to Maalouf in the Americas.

Maalouf joined IHG as Americas CEO in February 2015, growing the region to more than 4,350 hotels from 3,700.

“Working closely with Keith and as an Executive Committee, we’ve made a number of critical strategic investments in recent years that position us with exciting opportunities to realize IHG’s full industry leading potential, by driving the performance and growth of our fantastic brands and delivering strong returns for all our stakeholders,” Maalouf said.

For 1Q23 IHG reported group RevPAR +33% versus 2022, with Americas +18%, EMEAA +64% and Greater China +75%. Versus 2019, group RevPAR was +6.8%, Americas +11.1%, EMEAA +9.7% and Greater China -9.1%.

ADR was +11% vs. 2022, +10% vs 2019; occupancy +10 percentage points vs, 2022, -2 points vs. 2019.

Gross system size growth was +5.8% YOY, +0.9% YTD. IHG opened 8,400 rooms (45 hotels) in 1Q, ahead of 2022. Net system size growth was +4.2% YOY on an adjusted basis, +0.4% YTD. IHG signed 16,500 rooms (108 hotels) in 1Q, in-line with 2022, and the global pipeline sits at 287,000 rooms (1,906 hotels), +3.3% YOY. During 1Q, a third of all signings were across IHG’s six luxury and lifestyle brands. Meanwhile, conversions increased to be over a third of both openings and signings in the period.

Barr’s remarks about 1Q rang a familiar tone to IHG’s global competitors, citing strong trading in both the Americas and EMEAA, and an excellent rebound in demand in Greater China since the lifting of travel restrictions. He said leisure demand has remained buoyant, and there has been further return of business and group travel as expected.

“Whilst comparatives to 2022 get tougher from the second quarter onwards and there are ongoing economic uncertainties, IHG has continued to prove the resiliency of its business model and we remain confident about the strong tailwinds for attractive long-term, sustainable growth and value creation,” Barr said. “We look forward to making additional progress over the course of 2023 in further evolving our brand portfolio, increasing RevPAR and expanding our system size.”