by Donald Wood
Last updated: 1:21 PM ET, Wed February 24, 2021
InterContinental Hotels (IHG) announced it lost $153 million in 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but there are positive signs of growth.
According to Reuters.com, IHG Chief Financial Officer Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson reported that while revenue per available room dropped an astounding 52.5 percent last year, a faster recovery for the Holiday Inn Express brand has helped kick off the rebound in key markets.
IHG and the travel industry as a whole are looking forward to the widespread vaccination of travelers against COVID-19, which should lead to a wider economic comeback beginning later in the year.
"People want to travel again," Edgecliffe-Johnson told Reuters. "It is the thing that people have missed most and so there is enormous pent-up demand to travel. Travel will come back very rapidly."
IHG's Holiday Inn Express business represents about 70 percent of its rooms in the United States and has been impacted less and recovered faster than other brands in the company's portfolio.
Earlier this month, an IHG survey found that more than half of travelers have rebooked or plan to rebook canceled trips in 2021. Another study from the company found 60 percent of respondents said they want to be more environmentally and socially aware when traveling.
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