Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (LSE:IHG)'s revenue per available room (RevPAR) continued to grow in the third quarter despite ongoing pressure in China.
Global RevPAR climbed by 1.5% over the quarter, the Holiday Inn owner reported on Tuesday.
This was as the figure ticked up by 1.7% in the Americas and 4.9% across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
RevPAR in China slumped by 10.3% however, which IHG attributed to “unusually strong” comparatives from a year ago when there was a resurgence in domestic travel.
Some 17,500 rooms were opened across 98 hotels over the quarter, IHG said, while signings for 19,200 rooms meant the company’s pipeline was up 12% year on year.
“We are pleased with the latest trading performance and another strong period of development activity,” chief executive Elie Maalouf stated.
He added the group was on course to meet expectations over the full year, with US$614 million (£472 million) of a US$800 million share buyback programme having been completed.
This also meant IHG was on course to return US$1 billion to shareholders over the year.
Over the year so far, global RevPAR was up 2.4%, while occupancy had increased by 0.4%.