IHG Hotels & Resorts published the transcript of its 2025 Full Year Results webcast (presentation and Q&A), featuring Chief Executive Officer Elie Maalouf, Chief Financial Officer Michael Glover and SVP Head of Investor Relations Stuart Ford, with questions from analysts including Bernstein, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Santander, Barclays, Redburn, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America. Management highlighted “excellent financial performance in 2025,” with RevPAR up 1.5%, record openings of 443 hotels, net system growth of 4.7% (adjusted), 360bps fee margin expansion and 13% EBIT growth, alongside 16% adjusted EPS growth supported by a $900m buyback. IHG also announced a new $950m share buyback and launched a new Premium collection brand, Noted Collection, expected to reach “more than 150 hotels over the next decade.” The CFO said fee margin gains were driven by operating leverage and ancillary fee step-ups, noting: “Fee margin increased by 360 basis points to 64.8 percent.” On 2026, management said early trading has been positive across regions, while reiterating its longer-term algorithm and margin ambitions; the CFO added, “it remains our ambition to expand the fee margin by 100 to 150 basis points a year on average.” In Q&A, management addressed fee growth “noise” from record openings ramping up, renovations and exits, emphasizing, “there is nothing to suggest that we will not still be able to hit that high single-digit fee revenue growth over time.” They also discussed China’s improving trends (RevPAR turned positive in Q4), capital allocation and leverage, AI initiatives across guest acquisition, commercial optimization and cost efficiency, and emerging fee streams like branded residences (currently “$5 million to $10 million,” with “substantial” growth expected from 2027 onward). The full transcript can be accessed through the link below.

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