InterContinental Hotels shrugs off terror attacks and reports growth

Holiday Inns owner InterContinental Hotels Group on Friday played down a fall in London revenues, saying demand has held up following a spate of terror attacks and group results have jumped.

The FTSE 100 hotels giant said UK revenue per room slipped 1% in the first quarter. In London the figure was down 3%.

Finance boss Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson said it dropped because a year earlier there was an unusually high “blockbuster” period, boosted by the weak pound encouraging tourists to the capital.

He added that terror attacks last year have not “diminished demand in London”.

The company, which yesterday inked a deal to operate 13 more luxury hotels across Britain, saw global revenue per room rise 3.5%.

Elsewhere in the industry, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels said revenue per room fell 3.1% in the quarter.

It was recently the target of an unsuccessful £2 billion buyout offer by its chairman, Singaporean billionaire Kwek Leng Beng.