InterContinental Hotel Group CEO Talks 2026 Optimism
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Hello, I'm Stephen Carroll. I'm in Brussels, where many of Europe's biggest decisions get made.
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Let's move on to shares of IHG in the wake of the hotel operator announcing a $950 million share buyback program in its latest earnings. You can see shares rising a little bit here, 1.5%. The company also unveiled its 21st brand, Noted Collection, as it looks to attract more upscale customers this year. Joining us now exclusively to discuss is Elie Malouf, the CEO of of IHG. Ellie, great to have you with us. A lot to get into here, but I want to, of course, start with the U.S. and what you're seeing in that market, because we know it was a difficult end to 2025. The momentum that you've seen so far in 2026, what gives you the confidence to say that it will continue?
Thank you for having me. It's great to be with you. First, I really do want to thank our teams around the world for what was an excellent financial performance last year. You saw Refbar grew 1.5% around the world. Our operating profit was up 13%. Our earnings per share up 16%. And we're growing the company. We had a record over 440 hotel openings around the world. We added 700, nearly 700 hotels to our pipeline. So the industry growing, our company's growing, we're confident about the future. With regard to the United States, there were some, let's just say, unexpected things last year that weighed on the industry, which we think come off this year in 2026. You had some tariff anxiety. You had reduced government spending and travel.
You had the longest... on history, government shutdown, you had reduced inbound travel to the U.S. internationally. Now, when you get into 2026, these things either don't happen or really just we comp over those. In fact, we get some positives, like the World Cup, like U.S. 250 celebration. You got a very strong economy, a strong GDP growth exit rate from Q4. Really still record employment, job growth, but number of people employed is still at a record. enormous capital spending by technology companies and other, not just tech and AI, but you have energy infrastructure. That's driving business growth. I mean, you put all these things together, it's hard not to be a little more positive in 2026 about the U.S.
than 2025. And what we've seen in the first month and a half in business in the U.S., but actually, frankly, globally, makes us more optimistic.
Right. Right. Well, let's talk a little bit more about the World Cup, because obviously there is a ton of excitement building for this summer. What do past World Cups tell you about what the region could expect here in the U.S.? And what are you doing to prepare for that?
Well, look, we're very prepared. We're in most of the major cities where they're going to be, you know, football, if you're using the global term, or soccer, if you're using the U.S. term. But we're also very present in Canada and in Mexico where games are going to be played. We've got a lot of experience with global events. We're in 100 countries. We're a global company that's very big in the United States, but we've got experience with all these major events.
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