IHG Leans Into Luxury With New Brand, Plans 48% Expansion Of Global Upscale Portfolio
InterContinental Hotels Group is launching Noted Collection, a new high-dollar brand, as it looks to grow its upscale footprint 48% over the next decade.
Hotels under this umbrella will keep their individual names and identities but will have access to IHG's technology and capabilities.
Noted Collection is slated to grow to 150 hotels within the next 10 years, and IHG is in talks with luxury hotel owners to convert to the brand. The rollout will start in the region where performance was best in 2025: Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
IHG announced the venture during its full-year and fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, in which numbers were up across the board. Revenue grew by 7% year-over-year to $2.5B. Revenue per available room grew by 1.6% globally in Q4.
Full-year RevPAR was up 1.5% globally. In the U.S., while RevPAR grew by 0.3% for the full year, it fell by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, its third straight quarter of declines.
The lackluster performance was due to a dip in leisure and business travel, Chief Financial Officer Michael Glover said during the earnings call. Consumer confidence was at a five-year low last year. Business conditions, income expectations and the job market were at their lowest in almost 15 years. Middle-class and business clients started cutting their travel plans as the economy took a turn for the worse in the middle of last year.
Economic performance settled into a K-shaped recovery to close out the year. The wealthiest consumers are spending more and powering the economy. Meanwhile, the middle and lower classes are sliding into debt.
Noted and Ruby, IHG's newest brands, are aimed at a wealthy consumer base. IHG plans to aggressively grow the footprint of these brands, along with its entire upscale lineup, in 2026. The upscale category is one step above midscale, like Holiday Inn, and one step below upper-upscale and luxury, such as Kimpton and Hotel Indigo.
Crowne Plaza, Even, Voco and Hualuxe round out IHG's upscale offerings and will get the global expansion treatment. The plan is to grow the collective footprint of its upscale category to 965 within the next decade, a 48% increase. IHG has more than 6,900 hotels globally.
IHG also announced a $950M share buyback plan during the earnings call in an effort to boost shareholder value and sustain its credit rating. The company completed a $900M share buyback program in December, which returned $1.2B to shareholders, IHG CEO Elie Maalouf said on the earnings call.
