Conditions still "challenging" - Cosslett
InterContinental Hotels (IHG) today (November 10) posted a Q3 operating profit of $124m, a 19% drop on the figure for the same period in 2008.
The hotel chain - the world's largest in terms of rooms - said its revenue for the three months to the end of September was $401m.
This was also a drop of 19% on the figure of $ 496m for 2008.
IHG, whose brands include InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, Indigo and Holiday Inn, said globally revPAR (revenue per available room) fell 15.2% during the quarter.
In October revPAR fell by 13.5% globally, including 14.5% in the Americas, 12.7% in EMEA and 9.9% in Asia Pacific.
During the quarter, IHG said it opened a further 87 hotels with 11,386 rooms.
It also added 117 new properties (15,571 rooms) to the system.
Its pipeline now stood at 1,513 hotels with 218,181 rooms.
Andrew Cosslett, IHG's ceo, said: "The trading environment remains challenging. We see signs of occupancy stabilising, but rate is still under considerable pressure across the board.
"Our signings pace remains impacted by the continued scarcity of financing for hotel developments.
"We are taking action to improve our operating efficiency and support the performance of our hotels; the relaunch of Holiday Inn is gaining pace and continues to make a significant difference to the prospects of our biggest brand."
The chain said it was continuing to focus on "improving operational efficiency" and was on track to make savings of $80m in a full year.
In Europe, IHG said revPAR had fallen during the quarter by 15.2%, with the UK and France suffering the smallest drops of, respectively, 11.2% and 10.2%.
Operating profit in the continent fell by 8% to $36m. This was helped by an "improved trading environment" at the InterContinental Le Grand Paris and a "relatively strong performance" by the InterContinental Park Lane in London.
www.ihg.com