InterContinental Hotels Group for 2019 reported a 0.1 percent year-over-year increase in global occupancy, a 0.4 percent drop in average daily rate and a 0.3 percent decline in revenue per available room. The results "reflect the impact of ongoing unrest in the Hong Kong market; supply outpacing demand, particularly in the United States upper-midscale segment where we are weighted; and uncertainties caused by geopolitical tensions, with the U.S.-China trade discussion and Brexit as two examples," said IHG CEO Keith Barr in an earnings call on Tuesday.
Fourth-quarter figures fared even worse, with global occupancy down 0.2 percent year over year, ADR off by 1.5 percent and RevPAR falling 1.8 percent. Fourth-quarter U.S. RevPAR fell 1.7 percent. "We continue to be impacted by the reduced level of demand in small-groups business, which Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza have a higher weighting to, with group-driven revenues for those brands down some 5 percent in the fourth quarter and around 3 percent for the full year," said IHG CFO Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson. Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels account for one-third of the company's U.S. room supply.
Additionally, certain corporate segments contracted during the year. Revenue from automotive/transportation and energy/utility companies was down 7 percent each year over year, while revenue from airline companies was down 6 percent. This was countered by the professional services sector, which posted a 9 percent revenue increase.
Greater China and COVID-19
In Greater China, fourth-quarter occupancy rose 0.7 percent year over year. However, ADR was down 11.5 percent, and RevPAR plunged 10.5 percent, bringing down the final numbers for full-year 2019 to a 0.2 percent year-over-year growth in occupancy for the region, an ADR decline of 4.7 percent and a RevPAR decline of 4.5 percent. With Hong Kong removed from the equation, RevPAR was flat, according to Edgecliffe-Johnson.
Greater China accounts for 15 percent of global open rooms supply and about 10 percent of operating profit, Barr said. It also represents about 30 percent of the company's pipeline. It is too soon to tell exactly how the market will be affected in 2020 by the coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak, but there will be an impact, Barr said. "We are currently seeing less travel in the region, which is leading to reduced occupancy, and around 160 of our 470 hotels are closed or partially closed," he said, adding that the InterContinental in Wuhan is hosting medics and response teams.
Explaining further, Barr said the company was seeing a $5 million impact on fees for the month of February on mainland China business, which for the full year is around $100 million. "Quarter one is one of the lower quarters, and it gets progressively more as the year goes on, with quarter four being one of the strongest quarters in terms of fee realization," he said. Effects from the Hong Kong protests also will carry over into 2020, so looking beyond China, "we're seeing some impact across Asia/Pacific, [with] some conferences and events shifting dates from quarter one into later in the year. But it's really too hard to quantify because things are picking up and moving around the world, and some things are being canceled overall."
But Barr remained bullish on the overall Chinese market, citing six hotels opened in January and one in February, with another 14 signed in the first two months of 2020 so far. "Business is still moving ahead in China," he said. As far as construction is concerned, "it is a delay, not a stop. Effectively there could be a slide from December into January [openings] next year, or quarter four [2020] into quarter one [2021], but the long-term strength of the business is extraordinary in Greater China … and this is a short-term blip and impact that will recover as it has previously."
Development
IHG opened approximately 65,000 rooms in 2019, 26,000 of which in the U.S., and removed about 18,000. That represents a net gain in rooms of 5.6 percent year over year, which was the strongest for the company in more than a decade, Barr said. The company also signed 98,000 rooms during the year, bringing its pipeline to 283,000 rooms, with 40 percent currently under construction. About 24,000 rooms opened in Greater China in 2019, and the region accounts for 85,000 pipeline rooms, with 36,000 signed last year.
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