InterContinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) first-quarter operating profit rose 5.4% from a year earlier on higher demand in China and the U.S.
Operating profit increased to $118 million from $112 million a year earlier, while revenue rose 3.3% to $409 million.
Worldwide revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 7% on a 3.3% increase in average daily rate and a 2.1-point increase in occupancy. China RevPAR jumped 12%, while RevPAR in the company’s Americas region advanced 7.7%.
In the Americas, the InterContinental brand had a 9.3% increase in RevPAR, while Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express had RevPAR increases of 7.4% and 9%, respectively.
The performance of those chains more than offset the relatively slow revenue growth at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.
U.K.-based IHG owns, manages or franchises more than 4,500 hotels totaling more than 661,000 rooms, about two-thirds of which are in the Americas region.
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