Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC 6-K, filed Oct 22, 2026
Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG)
6-K
2026-10-22
For: 2026-10-22
View Original
Added on
October 22, 2026
About this 6-K
Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC filed this 6-K on October 22, 2026.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC reported Q3 global RevPAR growth of +5.3% and YTD growth of +4.6%, opened 289 hotels and signed 516 YTD, completed $707m of a $950m 2026 buyback, and is confident of achieving FY26 consensus expectations. AI summary
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington
DC 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT
OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 AND 15d-16
OF
THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For 22
October 2026
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC
(Registrant's
name)
1
Windsor Dials, Arthur Road, Windsor, SL4 1RS, United
Kingdom
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F
Form 40-F
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EXHIBIT
INDEX
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99.1
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2026
Third Quarter Trading Update dated 22 October 2026
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Exhibit
No: 99.1
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC
2026
Third Quarter Trading Update
22 October 2026
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Q3 global RevPAR acceleration to +5.3%, YTD +4.6%;
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Momentum in development activity continues, with 289 hotels opened
and 516 signed YTD;
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Confident of achieving consensus expectations for the
year
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Highlights
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● YTD
global RevPAR +4.6%, with Americas +5.6%, EMEAA +3.7% and Greater
China +1.0%
● Q3
global RevPAR +5.3%, with Americas +6.8%, EMEAA +5.0% and Greater
China -3.3%
● Q3
global rooms revenue on a comparable hotels basis comprised Groups
+10%, Leisure +5% and Business +4%
● Q3
average daily rate +3.9% and occupancy +0.9%pts
● Gross
system growth +6.3% YOY and net system growth +4.9%
YOY
● Opened
12.9k rooms (92 hotels) in Q3, taking YTD to 44.4k rooms (289
hotels)
● Global
system of 1,060k rooms (7,186 hotels)
● Signed
21.1k rooms (164 hotels) in Q3, taking YTD to 70.3k rooms (516
hotels)
● Global
pipeline of 353k rooms (2,426 hotels), up +3.2% YOY, and
representing 33% of current system size
● $707m
of 2026’s $950m share buyback programme completed to date,
further reducing the share count by 3.1%
● On
track to return over $1.2bn to shareholders in 2026 through share
repurchases and dividend payments
● Confident
of achieving FY26 consensus expectations, including adjusted EPS
around the top end of our growth algorithm target of +12-15%
annually on average over the medium to long
term
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Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts,
said:
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“RevPAR growth accelerated in the third quarter to +5.3% as
IHG’s breadth by geography, brands and stay occasions
captured increasing guest demand around the world. Our US
performance was very strong, with growth across all brands. There
was very good growth in EMEAA, most notably in Continental Europe
and East Asia & Pacific, which included an increase in inbound
travel from China. This growth more than offset a broadly flat
performance in the Middle East and an easing of RevPAR in Greater
China where adverse weather and changes to public holiday timings
impacted demand.
We expect another year of record development activity, and for 2026
to be our fifth straight year of accelerating net system growth. In
Q3, we opened 92 hotels and signed almost twice as many, with 164
properties added to our pipeline. Development remains split broadly
evenly between new builds and conversions, with each of our
collection and conversion-focused brands – voco, Vignette,
Garner and Noted – continuing their rapid expansion around
the world.
Our strong performance to date and continued positive outlook for
demand gives us confidence in achieving consensus expectations for
2026. This would mark the third consecutive year of delivering
adjusted EPS growth around the top end of our growth algorithm
target of +12-15% annually on average over the medium to long term.
This is driven by the power of IHG’s enterprise platform and
the ability to capitalise further on our scale, leading positions
and the attractive long-term demand drivers for travel and
hospitality globally.”
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Regional performance
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Americas
Year-to-date, RevPAR grew +5.6% for the region and +5.4% in the US.
Q3 RevPAR accelerated to +6.8% for the region and
+6.9% in the US, benefiting from the ongoing strength
and breadth of the US economy together with IHG's enterprise
platform. Rate grew +3.9% for the region in Q3 and occupancy
increased +2.1%pts to 73.9%. By stay occasion demand driver, Q3
rooms revenue on a comparable hotels basis continued to be
strongest in Groups, which was up +12% compared with 2025, followed
by Leisure up +7% and Business up +6%.
Gross system growth was +3.6% YOY and +2.3% YTD, with 4.0k rooms
(39 hotels) opened in the quarter. Net system growth was +2.1% YOY
and +1.0% YTD. We added signings for 5.7k rooms (65 hotels) to the
pipeline in the quarter. These included 24 hotels signed across the
Holiday Inn Brand Family, 22 across our extended stay brands and
14 across our conversion-focused brands. In 2026 to date,
conversions overall now represent around 50% of openings and 60% of
signings.
EMEAA
Year-to-date, RevPAR for this diverse region grew +3.7%, with +5.0%
in Q3 representing a significant improvement on the growth rate of
the prior quarter. Rate grew +4.1% in Q3 and occupancy increased
+0.6%pts to 75.5%. RevPAR growth was +2.8% in the UK, +3.8% in
Continental Europe and +8.4% in East Asia & Pacific. The Middle
East region, after a -19% decline in Q2, improved to broadly flat
in Q3, with locations such as Egypt and Turkey performing well
ahead. The six GCC countries, given their proximity to ongoing
conflict, experienced a -12% decline.
Gross system growth was +7.1% YOY and +4.1% YTD, with 3.6k rooms
(23 hotels) opened in the quarter including celebrating the
1,000th
open hotel in our Europe business. Net
system growth was +6.0% YOY and +3.3% YTD. We added signings for
7.0k rooms (47 hotels) to the pipeline in the quarter, including 21
conversion deals.
Greater China
Year-to-date, RevPAR grew +1.0%, but in Q3 eased by -3.3% with rate
-0.8% and occupancy -1.6%pts lower to 62.3%. Weather events
impacted travel in July and August, and changes to public holiday
timings supported more international outbound leisure travel in
late September. RevPAR declined by -7.5% in Tier 2-4 cities for Q3
overall, though in Tier 1 cities it grew by +0.2% and there was
very strong growth in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Attractive long-term secular growth drivers, together with the
economic outlook for the region, continues to fuel excellent levels
of development activity. Gross system growth was +12.1% YOY and
+9.8% YTD, with 5.3k rooms (30 hotels) opened in the quarter.
Net system growth was +10.3% YOY and +8.9% YTD. We added signings
for 8.3k rooms (52 hotels) to the pipeline in the quarter,
including 20 Holiday Inn Express and 14 Holiday Inn properties.
Increasing demand for conversions – both hotel rebrandings
and adaptive reuse from other property types – drove
conversions overall to represent around 40% of openings and
signings in the year-to-date.
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Share buyback progress
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As announced at our 2025 full year results on 17 February, a $950m
share buyback programme is returning surplus capital to
shareholders in 2026. This follows the $900m programme in 2025,
$800m in 2024, $750m in 2023 and the $500m programme announced in
2022. These previous four programmes reduced the total number of
voting rights in the Company cumulatively by 19% since 2022. The
2026 programme is 74% complete with $707m cumulatively spent to
date, repurchasing 4.7 million shares. The 2026 programme to date
has therefore reduced the total number of voting rights in the
Company by a further 3.1% to 147.0 million as at market close on
Wednesday 21 October 2026.
The $950m share buyback programme together with approximately $285m
of ordinary dividend payments will have returned over $1.2bn in
total to shareholders in 2026. This is equivalent to 5.8% of
IHG’s $21.3bn market capitalisation at the start of 2026, and
4.9% of IHG’s most recent $25.0bn market
capitalisation.
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Financing update
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In September 2026, the Group issued €850m of bonds comprising
€350m at a coupon of 4.000% repayable in September 2029 and
€500m at a coupon of 4.625% repayable in September 2033.
Currency swaps were transacted at the same time as issuance in
order to convert the proceeds and interest flows to US Dollars.
This swapped the €350m bond to $402m at 5.5% and the
€500m bond to $574m at 6.0%.
In August 2026 a £350m bond matured, with future maturities in
May 2027 (€500m), October 2028 (£400m), September 2029
(€350m), November 2029 (€600m), September 2030
(€850m), September 2031 (€750m) and September 2033
(€500m). After currency swaps, the Group now has a total of
$4.6bn bonds outstanding, with a blended borrowing cost of
approximately 5.1%.
As set out at the time of IHG’s half year results in August
2026, after completing this year’s buyback programme to
return $950m of surplus capital to shareholders, and based on
analyst consensus, leverage at the end of 2026 is expected to
remain within our net debt:adjusted EBITDA target range of
2.5-3.0x.
As previously described, our expected range for adjusted interest
expense for 2026 is $230-240m. Our preliminary view for 2027 is an
increase of $40-60m. As usual, at the time of reporting the results
for 2026 on 23 February 2027, we will provide a further update of
the expected range for 2027.
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For further information, please contact:
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Investor Relations:
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Stuart Ford (+44 (0)7823 828 739); Kate Carpenter (+44 (0)7825 655
702); Joe Simpson (+44 (0)7976 862 072)
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Media Relations:
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Neil Maidment (+44 (0)7970 668 250); Mike Ward (+44 (0)7795 257
407)
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Conference call for analysts and institutional
investors:
Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, and Michael Glover, Chief
Financial Officer, will host a conference call commencing at 9:30am
(London time) today, 22 October 2026. This can be listened to
via www.ihgplc.com/en/investors
results-and-presentations.
Analysts and institutional investors wishing to ask questions are
required to register at IHG Hotels &
Resorts 2026 Third Quarter Trading Update Q&A Registration
Page (https://registrations.events/direct/LON37652VIPcp0NhrKKa2gc8d).
Once registered, a calendar invite will be sent including dial-in
details for the Q&A and a unique passcode. Press *1 to ask a
question, *1 again to withdraw your question, or *0 for operator
assistance. For any technical issues during the webcast please
contact issuerservices@lseg.com.
An archived replay is expected to be available within 24 hours and
will remain available, accessed at www.ihgplc.com/en/investors/results-and-presentations.
Website:
The full release and supplementary data will be available on
www.ihgplc.com/en/investors/results-and-presentations
from 7:00am (London time) on 22
October 2026.
Appendix 1: RevPARa
movement summary at constant exchange
rates (CER)
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Q3 2026 vs 2025
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Q3 YTD 2026 vs 2025
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RevPAR
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ADR
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Occupancy
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RevPAR
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ADR
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Occupancy
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Global
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+5.3%
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+3.9%
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+0.9%pts
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+4.6%
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+3.0%
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+1.0%pts
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Americas
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+6.8%
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+3.9%
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+2.1%pts
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+5.6%
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+3.5%
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+1.4%pts
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EMEAA
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+5.0%
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+4.1%
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+0.6%pts
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+3.7%
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+2.6%
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+0.8%pts
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Greater
China
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-3.3%
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-0.8%
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-1.6%pts
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+1.0%
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+0.5%
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+0.3%pts
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Appendix 2: RevPARa
movement at CER vs actual exchange
rates (AER)
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Q3 2026 vs 2025
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Q3 YTD 2026 vs 2025
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CER (as above)
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AER
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Difference
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CER (as above)
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AER
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Difference
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Global
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+5.3%
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+5.5%
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+0.2%pts
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+4.6%
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+5.7%
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+1.1%pts
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Americas
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+6.8%
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+7.1%
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+0.3%pts
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+5.6%
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+6.0%
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+0.4%pts
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EMEAA
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+5.0%
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+3.6%
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-1.4%pts
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+3.7%
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+5.0%
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+1.3%pts
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Greater
China
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-3.3%
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+1.6%
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+4.9%pts
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+1.0%
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+5.9%
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+4.9%pts
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Appendix 3: System and pipeline summary of Q3 2026 YTD and YOY
growths, and closing positions (rooms)
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System
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Pipeline
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Openings
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Removals
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Net
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Total
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YTD%
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YOY%
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Signings
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Total
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Global
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44,439
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(10,810)
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33,629
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1,059,806
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+3.3%
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+4.9%
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70,278
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352,801
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Americas
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12,025
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(6,566)
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5,459
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534,653
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+1.0%
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+2.1%
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18,273
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106,485
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EMEAA
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11,871
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(2,334)
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9,537
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297,139
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+3.3%
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+6.0%
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26,544
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127,476
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Greater
China
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20,543
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(1,910)
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18,633
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228,014
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+8.9%
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+10.3%
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25,461
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118,840
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a.
RevPAR (revenue per available room), ADR
(average daily rate) and occupancy are on a comparable basis, based
on comparability as at 30 September 2026 and includes hotels that
have traded in all months in both the current and the prior year.
The principal exclusions in deriving these measures are new
openings, properties under major refurbishments and removals. See
‘Use of key performance measures and non-GAAP measures’
in IHG’s full year and half year results announcements for
further information on the definitions.
About IHG` Hotels & Resorts:
IHG Hotels & Resorts (tickers: LON:IHG for Ordinary Shares; NYSE:IHG
for ADRs) is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to
provide True Hospitality for Good.
With a family of 21 hotel brands and IHG One
Rewards, one of the
world’s largest hotel loyalty programmes with over 160
million members, IHG has more than one million rooms across 7,100
open hotels in over 100 countries, and a development pipeline of a
further 2,400 properties.
- Luxury
& Lifestyle:
Six
Senses, Regent,
InterContinental,
Vignette
Collection, Kimpton,
Hotel
Indigo
- Premium:
Noted
Collection, voco,
Ruby,
HUALUXE,
Crowne
Plaza, EVEN
- Essentials:
Holiday
Inn Express,
Holiday
Inn Hotels & Resorts, Garner,
avid
- Suites:
Atwell
Suites, Staybridge
Suites, Holiday Inn Club
Vacations, Candlewood
Suites
- Exclusive
Partners: Iberostar Beachfront
Resorts
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding
company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales.
Approximately 400,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and
corporate offices globally.
Visit us online for more about our hotels and
reservations and
IHG One
Rewards. To download the IHG
One Rewards app, visit the Apple App
or Google Play
stores.
For our latest news, visit our Newsroom
and follow us on LinkedIn.
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements:
This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements as
defined under United States law (Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934) and otherwise. These forward-looking
statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate
only to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements
often use words such as ‘anticipate’,
‘target’, ‘expect’, ‘estimate’,
‘intend’, ‘plan’, ‘goal’,
‘believe’ or other words of similar meaning. These
statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC’s management in light of
their experience and their perception of historical trends, current
conditions, expected future developments and other factors they
believe to be appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking
statements are inherently predictive, speculative and involve risk
and uncertainty. There are a number of factors that could cause
actual results and developments to differ materially from those
expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. The
main factors that could affect the business and the financial
results are described in the ‘Risk Factors’ section in
the current InterContinental Hotels Group PLC’s Annual report
and Form 20-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
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InterContinental Hotels Group PLC
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(Registrant)
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By:
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/s/ C.
Bates
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Name:
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C.
BATES
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Title:
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SENIOR
ASSISTANT COMPANY SECRETARY
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Date:
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22
October 2026
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