InterContinental Hotels Group on Tuesday reported that
revenues increased 5 percent year over year to $421 million during the third
quarter, with the company seeing global rate growth for the first time since
early 2009.
Like competitors Marriott, Starwood and Hyatt, IHG credited a return in corporate travel volume for its rate and revenue increases. IHG CFO
Richard Solomons said in a conference call that its year-to-date corporate
transient room nights in the United States are up 18 percent from 2009 levels,
and its group room nights are up 11 percent. Across the company's top 25
accounts, room nights have increased about 30 percent year to date, he said.
While Solomons said it's too early to tell where current
corporate rate negotiations will land, he said IHG is aggressively pushing
dynamic pricing models to corporate buyers.
"By the end of this year, we expect to have 20 percent
on that," Solomons said, "and we'll push more for that next year."
Profit for the quarter decreased 7 percent to $115 million and
was hit by a $35 million increase in costs, including $25 million in staff
payments and incentives, the company reported.
Rates increased by 0.8 percent in the Americas, and Solomons
said rates were up in half of the markets in the United States. By comparison,
only 10 percent of U.S. markets had year-over-year rate increases during the
first quarter. Higher occupancies drove revenue per available room in the
region by 6.7 percent.
In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, rate increased by 3.1
percent and RevPAR increased 9.7 percent. In Germany, RevPAR was up 22.2
percent.
Rate increased the most in the Asia/Pacific region, up 4.1
percent, contributing to a 12 percent increase in RevPAR. China had the highest
RevPAR growth, up 24.4 percent compared with last year.