InterContinental Hotels Group (LSE:IHG) reported very strong trading in the first quarter of 2026, with global RevPAR up 4.4% and management saying the year‑to‑date performance underpins confidence in achieving full‑year consensus growth and profit expectations.
Q1 comparable rooms revenue was strongest in Groups (+7%) and Business (+6%) with Leisure +1%, average daily rate +2.0% and occupancy +1.5 percentage points, while regional RevPARs were Americas +3.6%, EMEAA +5.6% and Greater China +5.7%.
"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," Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, said.
EMEAA showed intra‑quarter volatility driven by the Middle East, where RevPAR swung from +9% in the first two months to -26% in March and left EMEAA down about 7% in April, though on‑the‑books revenue for May and June indicates improvement.
Development momentum continued with gross system size up 6.6% year‑on‑year and net +5.0%, 82 hotels (14.9k rooms) opened in Q1, 163 hotels (21.4k rooms) signed and a global pipeline of 343k rooms (2,347 hotels).
IHG has completed $240m of its $950m 2026 share buyback to date, repurchasing 1.7m shares and reducing voting rights by 1.1%.
The full release and supplementary data are available from 7:00am London time on 7 May and an archived analyst replay is expected within 24 hours.
