After 2025's $1.2B Profit, IHG Prepares for AI Booking Race

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced positive financial results for 2025, demonstrating continued growth across both revenue and profitability.

Key highlights

The company generated $5,189 million in total revenue, which represents a 5 percent increase compared with 2024.

Operating profit reached $1,198 million, marking a 15 percent improvement from the previous year’s $1,041 million.

Basic earnings per share rose to 490.9 cents, an increase of 26 percent year over year, indicating that operational improvements and efficiency measures contributed significantly to financial performance.

Regional trends and hotel performance indicators

Global RevPAR increased 1.5 percent, although regional performance differed. The Americas recorded slight growth of 0.3 percent, while EMEAA delivered stronger expansion at 4.6 percent. Meanwhile, the number for China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan declined 1.6 percent, highlighting uneven recovery across international markets.

Pricing and occupancy trends also moved upward. The average daily rate (ADR) increased 0.8 percent, and occupancy rose by 0.5 percentage points, reflecting incremental improvements in traveler demand and hotel utilization rates.

Portfolio growth and shareholder returns

IHG significantly expanded its property footprint during the year. The company opened 65,100 new rooms, representing 10 percent growth compared with the prior year, across a record 443 hotels. As a result, the global estate reached approximately 1.026 million rooms in 6,963 hotels, reinforcing IHG’s position as one of the largest hospitality groups worldwide.

In addition to expansion, the company prioritized capital returns. During 2025, shareholders received $900 million through share buybacks and $270 million in dividends, demonstrating strong cash generation and financial stability.

Rebuilding technology for the AI era

IHG is also undertaking a substantial overhaul of its technology infrastructure in response to the growing influence of AI on travel search and booking behavior. A central component of this transformation is a new AI-ready digital content platform that reorganizes hotel data into modular, structured formats optimized for machine interpretation.

This system will integrate rich media elements, such as video, immersive imagery, virtual tours, automated translations, and detailed floor layouts. Beyond improving presentation, the strategic goal is to ensure that AI systems can easily interpret and surface hotel information during conversational search and planning experiences.

Collaboration with Google

Deployment of the new platform is scheduled to begin this year. At the same time, IHG is developing broader AI-enabled trip planning tools through collaboration with Google’s future AI travel agent. These initiatives are designed to support more intuitive search experiences, personalized travel recommendations, and smoother booking processes as AI increasingly becomes part of the customer journey.

Photo by Valeriia Bugaiova on Unsplash