InterContinental Hotels Group opened 12,000 rooms in the first quarter of the year.
The 5.4% year-on-year growth to 843,000 rooms across 5,600 hotels came as the hotel giant signed 24,000 rooms in the three months – the largest proportion in 12 years.
The total included 2,700 as a result of the takeover of the luxury Six Senses group (pictured) with 16 hotels and resorts.
Global revenue per available room [revpar] edged up by 0.3% with 0.6% growth in the US.
The UK saw revpar up by 2%, with London up 4% but the regions flat over the same period last year.
IHG is to open a unnamed new all-suites upper midscale brand in the US later this month.
The company is expanding the Kimpton brand in the UK with the opening of the Kimpton Fitzroy in London and the first property in Scotland.
New Six Senses properties have opened in Bhutan and Cambodia with more than 50 under discussion in addition to 18 management contracts signed.
Chief executive Keith Barr said: ”Our strategic focus on driving industry leading net rooms growth is delivering strong results, with our net system size increasing 5.4% in the first quarter and our highest number of signings in 12 years.
“Global revpar increased 0.3% against strong prior year results, with good growth in the US where we outperformed the industry segments where we compete, and continued market share gains in China.
“Our highest first quarter hotel openings in a decade included our 400th hotel in Greater China.
“More than 60% of openings globally were in the Holiday Inn brand family, driven by our focus on innovative design and service enhancements which is leading to improved guest satisfaction across our highly preferred portfolio of global brands.
“We have continued to expand our brand portfolio into high-opportunity segments and markets.
“In mainstream, we now have over 180 avid hotels signed and will launch our all-suites upper midscale brand in the US later this month.
“Our upscale conversion brand voco, is seeing strong owner interest with five hotels now open and a further 12 signed since launch last year.
“Our recent acquisition of Six Senses rounds out our offer in the top tier of luxury.
“The investments we are making to enable this acceleration in growth are funded through our efficiency programme, which is on track to deliver $125 million of annual savings by 2020.
“While macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainties remain in some markets, the strong fundamentals of our business give us confidence for the balance of the year.”
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