Intercontinental Hotels Group is making steady progress on the strategies it outlined in February. The company is on track to deliver $125 million in annual savings by 2020. More than 1,000 properties are now on its new global reservations system, IHG Concerto, and the company expects its full global portfolio be online by early 2019.
IHG this week agreed to rebrand and operate 12 luxury and upscale properties owned by Fonciere des Regions in the U.K., as well as another U.K. hotel in FDR's pipeline. The deal expands IHG's luxury and upscale portfolio in the U.K. to more than 2,000 rooms and will allow it to launch Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants there and gain a foothold with its soon-to-launch upscale brand. IHG will rebrand the FDR properties within two years. During IHG's first-quarter earnings call, CFO Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson promised more later this year about the identity of IHG's upcoming brand.
Other IHG Updates
IHG's acquisition of Regent Hotels & Resorts is expected to close at the midpoint of this year. The company intends to grow the brand from six hotels to 40 in the long term.
Questioned by an analyst whether IHG intends to follow Marriott International and Hilton in cutting commissions to groups and intermediaries, Edgecliffe-Johnson said there was nothing to be shared at the moment. "We are a smaller groups and meetings business than Marriott and Hilton," he said. "We're more leisure and transient."
IHG's first-quarter systemwide average daily rate grew 1.9 percent to $114.25, and occupancy rose 1 percentage point to 65.4 percent. As of March 31, IHG's portfolio totaled 799,923 rooms across 5,367 properties. Its pipeline totaled 252,451 rooms across 1,718 properties.
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