IHG Hotels & Resorts

Who owns IHG Hotels & Resorts?
IHG Hotels & Resorts is a publicly traded company listed on the London Stock Exchange under ticker IHG. The holding company, InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, is incorporated in England and Wales. Shares are widely held by institutional investors, with no single shareholder exercising controlling influence. The company has a single class of ordinary shares with no dual-class share structure. CEO Elie Maalouf leads the executive management team.

How many hotels does IHG operate?
IHG operates 6,963 hotels with 1,026,000 rooms across more than 100 countries as of December 31, 2025. The system is weighted 66 percent toward midscale segments and 34 percent toward upscale and luxury. In FY2025, IHG opened a record 443 hotels with 65,100 rooms, up 10 percent year over year. The company signed 694 hotels with 102,100 rooms into its pipeline, which totals 340,000 rooms across 2,292 hotels.

What brands does IHG own?
IHG owns 19 hotel brands plus 1 exclusive partner. The luxury and lifestyle brands include Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental, Vignette Collection, Kimpton, and Hotel Indigo. Premium brands include voco, HUALUXE, Crowne Plaza, and EVEN Hotels. Essentials brands include Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Garner, and avid hotels. Suites brands include Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and Candlewood Suites. Iberostar Beachfront Resorts operates as an exclusive partner. Ruby, acquired in 2025, is a premium urban lifestyle brand.

What is IHG's revenue?
IHG reported revenue from reportable segments of $2.47 billion in FY2025, up 7 percent. On an IFRS basis, total revenue was $5.19 billion, up 5 percent. Operating profit from reportable segments was $1.27 billion, up 13 percent. Fee margin was 64.8 percent. Adjusted EPS was 501.3 cents, up 16 percent. Total gross room revenue across the IHG system was $35.2 billion, up 5 percent. The total dividend was 184.5 cents per share, up 10 percent.

What is IHG's business model?
IHG operates an asset-light business model. The vast majority of hotels in the IHG system are franchised or managed, not owned by IHG. Hotel owners pay IHG franchise fees, base management fees, incentive management fees, and central services fees for the right to use IHG brands, reservation systems, and the IHG One Rewards loyalty program. This model generates high margins and requires relatively low capital investment. IHG owns or leases a small number of hotels directly, primarily InterContinental properties in key gateway cities.

When was IHG founded?
The modern IHG was created in 2003, when Six Continents PLC split into two separate companies: InterContinental Hotels Group (hotels) and Mitchells & Butlers (pubs and restaurants). However, the company's origins trace back to 1777, when William Bass opened a brewery in Burton-on-Trent, England. Bass entered the hotel business in 1970 by acquiring Holiday Inn International, took full control of Holiday Inn in 1989, and acquired InterContinental Hotels in 1998. The company sold its brewing business in 2001 and became a pure-play hotel company.

What acquisitions has IHG made?
IHG has made several strategic brand acquisitions. In 2014, IHG acquired Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants for $430 million. In 2018, IHG acquired a 51 percent stake in Regent Hotels & Resorts for $39 million. In 2019, IHG acquired Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas for $300 million. In 2022, IHG signed a strategic alliance with Iberostar, adding up to 70 hotels as an exclusive partner brand. In 2025, IHG acquired the Ruby brand for approximately $116 million. IHG also organically launched several brands including avid hotels (2017), Vignette Collection (2021), and Garner (2023).

IHG's history begins in 1777, when William Bass opened a brewery in Burton-on-Trent, England. Bass Brewery grew over the following century to become the world's largest brewer by the late 1800s, exporting beer globally as railways and industrialization expanded. The company's entry into hospitality came nearly two centuries later.

In 1969, Bass acquired Mitchells & Butlers, a pubs owner, marking the first of many acquisitions during the 1960s of well-known regional pub and brewing companies across the UK. The following year, in 1970, Bass made its first significant move into the hotel industry by acquiring Holiday Inn International, which covered Holiday Inn operations outside North America. This gave Bass a foothold in the global hospitality market.

In 1989, Bass acquired the remaining North American part of the Holiday Inn business, taking full control of the Holiday Inn brand worldwide. Holiday Inn, founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson in Memphis, Tennessee, had pioneered the concept of standardized, affordable roadside hotels. The brand had become one of the most ubiquitous hotel names in the world. With the full acquisition, Bass also gained Holiday Inn Express, the limited-service variant that would become particularly successful in the midscale segment.

The InterContinental brand has a separate origin. It was founded in 1946 by Juan Trippe, the founder of Pan American Airways, who envisioned providing luxury accommodation at the end of every flight. InterContinental Hotels became a prestigious luxury brand with properties in major cities worldwide. Bass acquired InterContinental Hotels in 1998 from Saison Co., Ltd. of Japan for approximately $2.8 billion, adding a luxury brand to its portfolio.

In 2001, Bass sold its brewing business to Interbrew (now part of AB InBev) for approximately £2.3 billion, focusing entirely on hospitality. The company was renamed Six Continents PLC. In 2003, Six Continents split into two separate companies: InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which took the hotel business, and Mitchells & Butlers, which took the pubs and restaurants. This demerger created the modern IHG as a pure-play hotel company.

The post-demerger period saw IHG refine its asset-light strategy. The company sold most of the hotels it owned, transitioning to a model where it primarily franchised and managed hotels rather than owning real estate. This shift reduced capital intensity and improved returns on capital. By the mid-2010s, IHG was almost entirely asset-light.

IHG made several strategic brand acquisitions to expand its portfolio. In December 2014, IHG agreed to acquire Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants for $430 million in cash. Kimpton, founded by Bill Kimpton in 1981, was the world's largest independent boutique hotel operator, managing 62 hotels in US cities and resorts with 16 hotels in the pipeline. The acquisition made IHG the market leader in the boutique segment, which was the fastest-growing segment in the industry.

In March 2018, IHG acquired a 51 percent stake in Regent Hotels & Resorts for $39 million in cash. Regent, founded in 1970, was a luxury brand with six hotels at the time of acquisition. IHG positioned Regent at the top end of its luxury portfolio and announced plans to grow the brand to over 40 hotels globally. IHG had the right to acquire the remaining 49 percent interest in a phased manner from 2026. Following the acquisition, InterContinental Hong Kong was rebranded as a Regent hotel in 2021.

In February 2019, IHG acquired Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas for $300 million in cash from Pegasus Capital Advisors. Six Senses managed 16 hotels and resorts in locations including the Maldives, the Seychelles, Oman, and Portugal, with 18 management contracts signed into its pipeline. The acquisition expanded IHG's luxury and wellness resort portfolio and took IHG's total luxury hotel count (open and pipeline) to 400 properties with 108,000 rooms.

In August 2023, IHG launched Garner, a new midscale conversion brand designed for owners seeking higher returns at a lower price point than Holiday Inn Express. IHG expected Garner to reach over 500 hotels in 10 years and 1,000 hotels in 20 years in the US alone. The midscale segment in the US represented a $14 billion market at the time.

In November 2022, IHG signed a strategic alliance with Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, a family-run Spanish company. Under the agreement, up to 70 Iberostar hotels (24,300 rooms) joined the IHG system as Iberostar Beachfront Resorts, becoming IHG's 18th brand. Iberostar retained 100 percent ownership of its hotels. The first properties joined the IHG system in December 2022, boosting IHG's global system size by up to 3 percent.

In 2025, IHG acquired the Ruby brand from Ruby SARL for initial purchase consideration of €110.5 million (approximately $116 million). Ruby, established in 2013, was a premium urban lifestyle brand operating 20 hotels (3,483 rooms) in major European cities with 10 pipeline hotels (2,235 rooms). Ruby became IHG's 20th brand. IHG expected to have the brand ready for development in the US by the end of 2025.

For FY2025, IHG delivered strong financial performance. Revenue from reportable segments grew 7 percent to $2.47 billion. Operating profit from reportable segments rose 13 percent to $1.27 billion. Fee margin improved 3.6 percentage points to 64.8 percent. The company opened a record 443 hotels with 65,100 rooms, up 10 percent year over year. The global pipeline reached 340,000 rooms across 2,292 hotels, up 4 percent. IHG returned over $1.1 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, including a $900 million buyback that reduced the share count by 4.8 percent.