Berlin: InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, said first-quarter room revenue rose even as weaker oil markets hit Middle East travel and an early Easter holiday slowed demand in Europe and Americas.
Revenue per available room, a measure of occupancy and rates known as revpar, increased 1.5 per cent, the Denham, England-based company said in a statement on Friday. The profitability measure rose by mid-single digits in Germany and former Soviet Union countries.
“Despite economic and political uncertainty in some markets, current trading trends and the momentum behind our brands give us confidence for the rest of the year,” Chief Executive Officer Richard Solomons said in the statement.
InterContinental is benefiting from increased travel as Chinese tourists spend more time and money overseas and the global economy grows. International tourist arrivals are set to rise 4 per cent in 2016, after reaching a record 1.2 billion last year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Industry demand
More than half of InterContinental’s rooms are in the US, where revpar rose 1.5 per cent, driven by record levels of industry demand. The company bought US boutique chain Kimpton Hotels last year, which help expand its reach into country’s upscale segment.
European sales climbed 1.4 per cent, after terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels damped travel in the region. RevPAR in France was down 2.3 per cent. In the Middle East, it fell 10.4 per cent on lower oil prices.
InterContinental had about 744,000 rooms in 5,000 hotels at the end of 2015. It’s the second-biggest European hotel operator by market value, after Paris-based Accor SA.
