Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, I'm Stephen Carroll. I'm in Brussels, where many of Europe's biggest decisions get made.
And I'm Caroline Hepke in London. We're the hosts of the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast.
We're up early every weekday, keeping an eye on what's happening across Europe and around the world.
We do it early so the news is fresh, not recycled, and so you know what actually matters as the day gets going.
From Brussels, I'm following the politics, policy and the people shaping the European Union right now.
And from London, I'm looking at what all that means for markets, money and the wider economy.
We've got reporters across Europe and around the globe feeding in as stories break.
So whether it's geopolitics, energy, tech or markets, you're hearing it while it happens.
It's smart, calm and to the point.
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Chapter 2: What financial performance did IHG achieve in 2025?
I am curious, though, Ellie, you have no concerns right now about some of the immigration issues here in the U.S. potentially maybe dampening just how many people would actually travel, foreign travelers that is, into the US for these events?
We haven't seen that. Our booking window isn't that long. The games are still a few months away. Frankly, most companies in our business at our scale see somewhere between 50% to 60% of all their bookings in the last week. Now, long event bookings like this start to come in months before. We're pleased with the bookings we're seeing in our major cities for the World Cup.
It's a bit early, really, to make a decision. forecast on it, but we're pleased. We're not seeing any resistance to come. Look, sports bring the world together. And that's always been the case, no matter where the World Cup has been held. And keep in mind, we're a global company. We're very focused on the United States. We think it's going to be more optimistic this year.
But around the globe, we're seeing positive trends in Europe, certainly the Middle East, where we have a very big business and that's growing. Southeast Asia has had a very good year in 2025. That continues. And China, which was a bit negative in REF PAR growth for the last two years, turned positive in Q4. A strong economy. We had record signings and openings in China last year.
So really, globally, everything's taking shape for a better year in 2026. Well,
Well, on that point here, are you seeing any material difference in demand for, I guess, your high properties versus low? So say something like a Holiday Inn on the lower end of the price spectrum all the way up to, you know, the Intercontinentals, Crowns, Kemptons and those things on the higher end. Sure.
Look, we pride ourselves on having a stay for everybody. And in 2025, both Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express had a positive year around the world. Now, I'd say the upper end, luxury, had an even more positive year. That's been a trend going on for a couple years. We think over time, the mainstream travel, the middle class travel, will converge.
And some years, you find that luxury does better than mainstream. Some years, mainstream does better than luxury. There are strong structural drivers for both. In mainstream, the middle class is growing around the world. In China, the middle class is going to double in the next 10 years. In India, Southeast Asia, similar figures. In the United States, the middle class is getting wealthier.
And so the middle class is the heart of the business, and that has strong structural drivers. At the upper end, at the luxury, you've got two structural drivers. First, you've got an aging population. That's, however, aging in a healthier and wealthier condition. And one of the main things they want to do is travel.
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