InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE:IHG) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 9 of 12

Keith Barr: Yes. Well, thank you. I mean in terms of pricing, so if you look at the U.S. state for like Q4, you had leisure up in room nights and 14% ahead in average rate. Business just slightly behind room nights for the first 2019 and 7% ahead in rate and groups are about 10%, 12% off, 30% off in demand but 7% head in rate. So you’re right, there’s been significantly pushing rate in leisure, probably not going to be replicated moving forward but it can be maintained. We are definitely seeing that there is pricing power in both groups, meetings and events and in business travel. And so in our corporate negotiated rates which is what we do centrally, we’re seeing kind of mid- to high single-digit pricing movement in 2023 and it’s a good portion of our overall business, too.

So you would expect to see further pricing power in group’s meetings and events and in business probably coming off in leisure to some degree, not going backwards but not seeing the same level of growth. So overall, strong pricing.

Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson: And then in terms of OpEx and how we invest into the business because you’ve got a combination of what’s inflation and then what choices we make to continue to build out the competencies of the business; and when you think back to the prior year. So we added back in the $25 million that we said we would of what have been saved because effectively, we have saved more than we targeted. So that came in. And then you saw about a 4% increase in costs in the business which was primarily wage inflation. And in 2023, the vast majority of our costs in the business are people. So we will see increases due to wage inflation. And then beyond that, where we choose to invest for greater competencies, we will look at the trading environment and make decisions as to whether that makes sense, if there’s anywhere that would give us a good return.

And I think we’ve got a good track record of driving margin. And what we are trying to do is balance profit and investment for future growth. In terms of the net unit growth, what we’ve talked about for a long time is our intention to be industry-leading. If you go back to 2019 on a gross growth basis, we led the industry. So we were the highest rate of openings in the industry. There’s a reason why we can’t be doing that again, you just got to be back in the same sort of industry environment. It’s not going to be that same environment in 2023 because there are fewer new builds coming through. So can you get back up to 5.5% at some point? Yes, absolutely. And with only 1.5% removals, it’s actually easier than it would have been before. But we’re certainly not saying that that’s a 2023 aspiration.

Keith Barr: And just to build on my previous comments, too. I mean, again, China, we have a significant business in China, a fantastic business in China that was growing 10%, 12% and it’s growing around 6% today. So as China ramps back up, so will the group’s net system size growth, too. And so again, we have a strong business in the Americas, great growing business in EMEAA and China is on its path to recovery. And so when we were talking about 5%. That was a very different macro environment in China, where there were no lockdowns and they were — the rest of the world was sort of in recovery mode and they were in normal that flipped around for 2022.

Jaina Mistry: If I could just follow up on pricing. I think you mentioned potentially a soft landing for this year or that’s what we expect are expecting. Is it fair to say that given the tailwinds this year, low to mid-single-digit pricing for the group as a whole might be a floor?

Page 9 of 12