InterContinental logs decade's best numbers

InterContinental Hotels (IHG) reported its best performance for both new room openings and future room signings in a decade. The hotel operator upped the size of its portfolio on a net basis by 4.8 per cent, adding 56,000 new rooms. With 18,000 rooms closed over the period, this brought the total number in operation to 837,000. IHG also signed 99,000 future rooms to its development pipeline - an 18 per cent increase year on year - bringing the total number of rooms on the way to 271,000. Nearly half of these were under the Holiday Inn brand. After the year-end, IHG also announced the acquisition of luxury brand Six Senses, as well as plans to launch a new upper-to-midscale brand in 2019.