The Strategic Report on pages 2 to 51 was approved by the Board on 16 February 2015

George Turner, Company Secretary

The Board and its areas of focus

IHG is an ambitious company with an impressive scale position and a proven strategy for high-quality growth. Ensuring we have the right balance of skills, style and expertise at both the Board level and across the business is an important factor in supporting our future growth (see pages 57 to 62).

In last year’s Annual Report, I said how impressed I was by the strength and diversity of the IHG Board. This continues to be the case. I also stressed the importance of evolving the composition of the Board to best support the business as it grows and develops.

In 2014, a key priority for me was to appoint a Non-Executive Director with a strong background in consumer-facing technology. On 1 September 2014, we were therefore delighted to welcome Jo Harlow to the Board and as a member of the Audit, Nomination and Remuneration Committees. Jo has a wealth of experience and knowledge, particularly on the role digital technology plays in driving consumer behaviour.

On 31 December 2014, Jonathan Linen retired from the Board and I would like to thank him for his tremendous contribution to IHG. In December 2014, we announced that Kirk Kinsell would step down from the Board and his role as President of our Americas business on 13 February 2015. Kirk was succeeded by Elie Maalouf as Chief Executive Officer, The Americas, who became a member of IHG’s Executive Committee. We are also pleased that, effective from 1 March 2015, Anne Busquet will be joining the Board as a Non-Executive Director and she will also sit on the Audit, Nomination and Corporate Responsibility Committees. Anne has an impressive breadth of experience in digital commerce, hospitality, finance and marketing.

During the year, the Board remained focused on IHG’s strategy and the execution of our Winning Model, as well as on maintaining our deep understanding of both the risks facing the business and the controls we have in place. These are further described on pages 14 to 33.

Governance

High standards of corporate governance are fundamental to the way IHG operates and reflect our values and commitment to being a truly responsible business. In last year’s Annual Report, we explained how we had commissioned a formal evaluation of the Board from an external independent consultant. This year we undertook an internal Board effectiveness evaluation and internal performance evaluations of each Director. The Board also considered the performance of each of its Committees. It was confirmed that the Board and its Committees were operating effectively, and that each Director continues to bring relevant knowledge, diversity of perspective, an ability and willingness to challenge and retains a strong commitment to the role. The progress against our 2013 evaluation, and details of our 2014 evaluation and action plan, can be found on pages 63 and 64.

Detailed information on our Board and governance processes, including the Directors’ Remuneration Report, can be found on pages 54 to 91.

In line with our commitment to responsible business practices (see pages 24 and 25), this year, we have decided to produce a broader Responsible Business Report in place of the Corporate Responsibility Report, which can be downloaded at www.ihgplc.com/responsiblebusiness.

Outlook

We continue to remain confident in the long-term growth prospects of the hotel industry. There are some major structural tailwinds and socio economic trends which mean that the hotel industry will experience significant growth into the future. Our proven strategy for high-quality growth means that we are well placed to continue to outperform.

Patrick Cescau

Chairman

“IHG is in a position of strength, a position which has been enhanced by another year of delivery against our strategic priorities.”

Richard Solomons

Chief Executive Officer

IHG is in a position of strength, a position which has been enhanced by another year of excellent delivery against our strategic priorities. We remained focused on building our compelling scale position in what is a growing global marketplace, as we continued to build, develop, and shape our business and our brands for the future. We achieved strong RevPAR performance, opened the highest number of hotels since 2009 and reported growth in net System size.

We also made good progress with our asset-light strategy with the sale of InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco and the disposal of 80 per cent of our interest in InterContinental New York Barclay, as well as the acceptance of a binding offer for InterContinental Paris – Le Grand.

Our Winning Model

The Winning Model is our framework for delivering value for our shareholders and owners through our portfolio of preferred brands, talented people and leading revenue delivery systems. We are focused on delivering against all components of this model, combining it with a targeted approach to building our portfolio and disciplined execution, all underpinned by our commitment to being a responsible business. On pages 16 and 17, we have set out why each element of the model is so critical to our business and have provided more detail on the excellent progress we made during the course of 2014. This includes our superior owner proposition. On our website, www.ihgplc.com/ihgowners, you will find a message from Buggsi Patel, 2014 Chairman of the IHG Owners Association, on his highlights from the year.

Our acquisition of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants (see page 21), which completed in January 2015, is an example of how each element of the model came into play and will help support our ambitions for the brand in the medium term.

Our Winning Model in action

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is a well-established and highly successful business that has grown to become the world’s leading boutique hotel business with a portfolio of world-class hotels and destination restaurants. This distinctive and innovative brand fits perfectly into our brand family, alongside our highly successful Hotel Indigo and EVEN Hotels brands, creating the world’s largest boutique hotel business. We will use our scale, network of owner relationships and powerful digital platforms to accelerate its growth both within the US and globally
(see page 21).

Our scale

With a five per cent share of the global industry supply of rooms and 13 per cent of the active industry pipeline, IHG enjoys significant scale advantages in what is a competitive industry. During 2014, we continued to build our scale, focusing on our priority markets such as the United States and Greater China (see page 18). This resulted in us achieving a series of milestones in the year, including our highest ever number of hotel openings in Greater China
(see pages 19 and 46 to 48).

Our brands

Our award-winning preferred brands continued to go from strength to strength. InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is twice the size of any other luxury hotel brand and the Holiday Inn brand family is the largest global mainstream brand. We also opened the 400^th Crowne Plaza hotel and 200^th Staybridge Suites hotel during the year.

The number of awards our brands receive externally is remarkable, reflecting the work we have been doing to build awareness, recognition and guest satisfaction. In 2014 alone, our brands won over 300 global, regional and hotel level awards.

For the sixth consecutive year, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts was named ‘World’s Leading Hotel Brand’ at the 2014 World Travel Awards; and for the tenth consecutive year, IHG Rewards Club has been recognised as ‘Best Hotel Rewards Programme in the World’ by Global Traveler magazine. IHG as a company also had a successful year – we were listed as one of FORTUNE Magazine’s ‘World’s Most Admired Companies’, named as the ‘Best British Business’ in China and came third in The Sunday Times ‘25 Best Big Companies to Work For’ list.

Innovating for the future

We have continued to build on our long history of innovation to help us both navigate and evolve our business for success in what is a changing world. This is supported by our focus on delivering preferred brands, building lifetime relationships with our guests and developing our strong direct channels.

In 2014, we opened the first two EVEN Hotels (see page 20) to critical acclaim, and in February 2015, we opened the first hotel for the HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts brand. Both of these new brands address previously unmet guests’ needs.

We have also taken an innovative approach to evolving our loyalty and digital offer around the ‘Guest Journey’ with the launch of initiatives such as Mobile Check-in and Check-out and further improvements to our number one rated mobile app. Continuing to evolve and enhance our digital capabilities will be a key area of focus for us over the coming years.

Trust

In the context of this changing landscape, the theme of ‘Trust’ was more important than ever and was the main theme of our 2015 Trends Report (see page 10 for more details). The report argues that ‘Trust Capital’ is now the ‘4^th C’ of organisational value – alongside Human, Financial and Intellectual Capital – and is a key factor for consumers in making brand choices. Our people play a critical role in building trust with our guests and owners. They are responsible for delivering a differentiated brand experience for our guests (see pages 16 and 23) and as such we work hard to build our ‘winning culture’ and our employer brand and maintain our high Employee Engagement survey scores
(see page 32).

Responsible Business

Operating as a Responsible Business underpins each of our strategic priorities and is a commitment everyone working at IHG is responsible for delivering (see page 24 and 25). We made excellent progress with each of our three corporate responsibility programmes during the course of the year. We announced the global roll-out of our environmental sustainability tool, IHG Green Engage, as a brand standard, which was a powerful demonstration of our commitment to protecting the environment. More recently, we announced the opening of our 600^th IHG Academy. Launched in 2006, the programme provides local people with bespoke skills-development and employment opportunities. Finally,

our disaster relief programme, IHG Shelter in a Storm, responded to 18 disasters in nine countries.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who work across IHG and its brands globally for the energy and enthusiasm they bring to the business. With their support, and together with our owners, we can look forward to another excellent year ahead.

Richard Solomons

Chief Executive Officer

The global hotel industry

The global hotel industry comprises approximately 15.5 million rooms and is broadly segmented into branded (multiple hotels under the same brand name) and independent (non-branded) hotels. Growth in demand is driven by economic growth and an increasing trend for domestic and global travel, resulting in part from favourable demographics and the globalisation of travel.

Over the long term, the lodging industry has grown broadly in line with Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the US market (which is the largest market in terms of number of rooms), growth in consumer spend on lodging has exceeded GDP growth by two percentage points per annum over the last 50 years.

There are a number of industry metrics that are widely recognised and used to track performance and we actively monitor these. These include revenue per available room (RevPAR), average daily rate and rooms supply growth.

Global industry RevPAR growth (2014 v 2013)

IHG’s Key performance indicators (KPIs) are set out on pages 30 to 33.

The branded hotel market

The branded hotel market is estimated to account for 53 per cent of the total hotel market. We benchmark our performance against the largest branded players that we consider to be our peer group, with a similar system size and pipeline to ours and who operate in similar market segments to us (as explained on page 18).

Five of the leading branded hotel companies (IHG, Accor, Hilton, Marriott and Starwood) account for approximately 30 per cent of the total branded hotel market in terms of open rooms, and 65 per cent of the development pipeline (hotels in planning and under construction but not yet open).

In the US, around 70 per cent of the industry supply is branded. In fast developing markets, such as China and India, penetration of international brands is, however, lower, at around 45 to 55 per cent. This level of international brand penetration is expected to increase significantly over the coming decades, as large global branded hotels gain traction due to the advantages of reliability, guest safety and security, consistency of standards and the ability to invest in customer experience and technology. IHG has measures in place for all of these – see Our Strategy and Managing Risks on pages 14 to 29.

Source: Smith Travel Research for all of the above industry facts.

The different business models within the hotel industry

The global hotel industry operates under a number of different business models, depending on whether a hotel is branded or independent. The four models typically seen are owned, leased, managed and franchised:

Other models, such as pay-for-performance or commission-based, are sometimes used by independent hotels to benefit from a brand’s booking distribution system (for example, hotel collections).

Whilst an owner-operated hotel enables the owner to have full control over the hotel operation, it requires high capital investment. In contrast, for hotel brand owners, a managed or franchised model enables quicker rooms growth due to the lower capital investment, but this requires strong relationships with third-party hotel owners. As a franchisor and manager, we therefore recognise that our owner proposition is a key part of our strategy.

IHG’s business model, which is a predominantly managed and franchised model, is set out on pages 12 and 13.

 

IHG’s 2015 Trends Report: Building Trust Capital: The new business imperative in the Kinship Economy – released in January 2015
		The third in our series of Trends Reports focused on consumer insights impacting the hospitality industry and business in general.   Our 2015 Report identifies
the importance for companies to build brand and organisational trust. It demonstrates how to build Trust Capital with different demographics and across different geographies, unveiling a blueprint of seven principles for making it the core driver of an organisation.
Further details about all three Trends Reports can be found at www.ihgplc.com/trends_report

 

Short-term drivers and global trends

Short-term industry trends are shaped by differing economic, political or physical factors impacting local geographical markets. Since the economic crisis of 2008/09, GDP growth has returned to key economies, leading to an increase in disposable income and an increase in demand for hotel rooms. Typically, the industry would meet this demand through an increase in the supply of rooms.

In developed markets, recent industry revenue growth has been driven largely by an increase in the room rate as occupancy levels have returned to previous peak levels, but the growth in supply of rooms has been below the long-term average. In emerging markets, growth has been a result of both an increase in room rate and the supply of rooms. The industry is also impacted in the short term by local market economic or political factors.

Long-term drivers and global trends

In the long term, growth in the hotel industry is driven by a number of trends:

Economic

The travel and hotel industries have benefited substantially from long-term macroeconomic trends. Global GDP growth in the last 10 years of approximately 3.6 per cent per annum has contributed to increasing disposable income and a greater number of middle-class households, particularly in emerging markets such as Greater China, with a greater propensity to travel.

Improvements in physical infrastructure, particularly in emerging markets, have allowed hotels to meet the needs of guests more effectively and to open up new destinations for travel.

Our growth strategy focuses on 10 priority markets comprising both developed and emerging ones.

Demographic

Traveller demographics are continuously evolving. Many travellers travel for a variety of reasons and no longer for a singular purpose, such as only business or leisure. Across the globe, the types of traveller can range from single people to multi-generation families. The younger workforce is driving more diverse and informal working patterns, with an expectation that hotels can cater for flexible working arrangements. A growing ageing population with the desire, and means, to travel is also expected to significantly increase travel flows and lead to an overall increase in demand for travel services.

Having a portfolio of distinct and complementary brands enables IHG to meet a range of guests’ needs and occasions at differing price points.

Social

Other trends also provide new opportunities for increased travel. Growing competition and capacity amongst airlines, lower air fares and more relaxed travel restrictions in many regions have made international travel a viable option for an increasing number of people. Worldwide, international tourist travel is expected to increase by 3.3 per cent a year from 2010 to 2030 reaching 1.8 billion by 2030, according to the UNWTO.

Increasingly, travellers are concerned about the sustainability of hotels and their impact on the environment and local communities.

We are committed to responsible business practices from environmental sustainability to supporting our local communities.

Technology

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in both shaping the travel industry and in guests’ appreciation of their entire travel experience. The internet, increasingly accessed through mobile devices, has established itself as the preferred method to research, plan and book travel. In emerging markets, consumers are bypassing desktop PCs and going straight to mobile – there are twice as many smartphone users in China than internet users in the US.

The development of social networking has changed the way in which people think about travel, with the sharing of experiences, reviews and recommendations influencing research and decision-making. Travellers can make more informed decisions, and book their travel options with greater control and immediacy, leading to an increase in travel to a variety of destinations.

The ‘Internet of Things’ is an emerging trend that offers enormous potential. 75 billion devices are forecast to be internet-enabled by 2020 offering the potential to transform the in-hotel guest experience.

We focus on delivering across the entirety of the ‘Guest Journey’ and invest in developing strong technology platforms.

Competitors

These long-term drivers and global trends are changing the competitive landscape within the travel industry. Competitors are no longer simply branded or independent hotels, but also include companies offering alternative lodging solutions and search options, providing inspiration for travel ideas and aggregating a range of travel solutions. The consumer peer-to-peer rental market, which is largely unbranded, has also opened up a large supply of travel accommodation. However, many of these businesses are not subject to regulations such as fire and life safety, food safety and local industry regulations, which apply to traditional hotel operators.

For booking and distribution, hotel companies also compete with the increasingly sizeable travel intermediaries.

Our channel management strategic priority considers both direct and indirect booking and distribution channels.

In support of our asset-light strategy, during 2014 we:

Disposals

Acquisitions

		Preferred brands delivered through our people

Why we think this is important

Having a strong portfolio of preferred brands is fundamental to our success. In a highly competitive industry, powerful well-defined, consistent and well-known brands assist both guests and owners in choosing an IHG brand over a competitor’s, as well as deciding which IHG brand meets their specific needs. Our people are critical in providing the guest experience, and our ‘winning culture’ encourages and empowers them to bring each of our differentiated brand experiences to life and provide high standards of guest service.

The value of building strong preferred brands results in increased RevPAR, as occupancy will be higher and guests will pay a higher rate to stay at their preferred brand, which, in turn, delivers better returns for our owners through an increase in total gross revenue.

What we are doing

We build brand preference by defining each of our brands so that they can provide a differentiated experience to meet both the targeted guest need and occasion and be consistent in the experience they deliver.

We have sharpened each of our brand strategies looking at a number of areas, from the brand ambition and position to the brand platform and strategic brand pillars, to ensure our portfolio meets the needs of the evolving guest and owner. We are also refreshing the brand standards for each of our brands to ensure they are up to date and relevant to drive consistency.

We invest in our talented people who are the face of our brands and help us build brand preference (see page 23).

		Build and leverage scale

Why we think this is important

Scale provides significant advantages in the hotel industry at the global, national and city level. The size of the IHG System, and our concentration on priority markets and key gateway cities, allows us to benefit from economies of scale, which lead to higher margins and operating leverage. With scale, we can invest in our brands and the technology required to support their continued growth, and deliver efficient sales and marketing and procurement practices, thereby increasing the advantages an IHG brand brings to owners. Scale also enables us to invest in, and grow, new brands and take them global, for example Hotel Indigo.

What we are doing

IHG already benefits from substantial scale advantages. With over 710,000 rooms open at the end of 2014, we delivered our strongest net IHG System size growth since 2009 of 3.4 per cent, opening over 41,000 rooms. Our brand portfolio also reached some significant milestones in 2014 – opening the 400^th Crowne Plaza hotel, the 200^th Staybridge Suites hotel and the 60^th Hotel Indigo hotel in its 10^th anniversary year. Our scale has also enabled us to commit $150 million of investment behind the EVEN Hotels brand, opening the first two properties in 2014. We focus on developing our scale in 10 priority markets, where we currently have 85 per cent of our open rooms (see page 18). Benefiting from the strong growth in these markets, Group fee margins were up 1.5 percentage points to 44.7 per cent in 2014 and total gross revenue was up 6 per cent to $23 billion.

For details on how we maximise the scale and efficiency of our operations, see page 22.

Why we think this is important

A portfolio of strong, complementary brands allows us to offer solutions for each guest need, which increases cross-selling across different brands. Combined with a strong loyalty programme, it also increases awareness and recognition of the IHG brand, and of each of the individual hotel brands, helping us to drive business. Guests who have an increased loyalty to IHG and its portfolio have also proven to have a higher spend per stay. Both of these result in higher RevPAR premiums, thereby increasing total gross revenue and strengthening our owner proposition.

What we are doing

Our brands are complementary across the segments in which they operate (midscale, upscale and luxury), catering to different guest needs and occasions. One of our newest brands, EVEN Hotels, caters to an identified guest need for maintaining wellness while travelling and the acquisition of the Kimpton brand has a strong strategic fit with our Hotel Indigo and EVEN Hotels brands (see pages 20 and 21). Recognising the importance of a strong loyalty programme, we encourage guests to stay across the portfolio and build lifetime relationships through the IHG Rewards Club programme, which has 84 million members. We continue to evolve our loyalty programme to ensure that it is not just the largest in the market, but also the most preferred – refreshing and reviewing the rewards and benefits available to increase its attractiveness to our guests. We recognise our loyal guests and aim to personalise their experiences.

Why we think this is important

As a franchisor and manager of hotels, we aim to drive demand to our hotel brands and reduce distribution costs for our owners through strong brand awareness and effective yield-management practices, delivering better returns for our owners. Our direct channels (digital and voice) are less costly to owners than third-party intermediaries. Our strong brands are a significant driver of bookings through indirect channels (online travel intermediaries (OTIs) and business and leisure travel agents). We therefore aim to drive demand for our hotels through our direct channels and manage revenue per booking, thereby delivering the highest quality revenues to IHG hotels at the lowest possible cost, increasing RevPAR and owner returns.

What we are doing

Our direct and indirect channels delivered 71 per cent of total rooms revenue to our hotels in 2014. Our digital business has significant scale and is growing fast, accounting for $4 billion in revenue in 2014. We continue to invest in features that enhance the digital experience, with branded and personalised offerings to encourage guests to book via our direct channels.

We recognise the impact of OTIs as an indirect booking channel, mainly used by comparison-site shopping leisure travellers searching for a competitive deal. We have therefore leveraged our global footprint to secure better terms with the OTIs on behalf of our owners, whilst leveraging OTIs as a complementary distribution channel.

For details on our investment in developing strong technology platforms, see page 22.

Why we think this is important

We recognise that hotel owners have a choice of brand, if any, to choose for their property. A strong owner proposition, preferred brands and effective operational support, play a vital part in making us the brand choice for owners. Relationships with new and existing owners therefore have a significant impact on our ability to build scale. A strong owner proposition and relationships with our owners also enable us to deliver the brand promise for our guests and continue building preferred brands.

What we are doing

We are committed to delivering a compelling and preferred owner offer. We continually review and enhance our owner proposition in many ways, including:

^*Source: Smith Travel Research.

Attractive markets

Why we think this is important

Achieving scale and driving growth requires us to focus on those markets that are most attractive and where there is the best fit with our strategy and business model. These markets have large inbound and domestic demand for branded hotels or show great potential to have this in the future.

What we are doing

Whilst we operate in nearly 100 countries and territories and continue to expand our presence globally, we primarily focus our efforts on 10 priority markets in which we either have a strong existing competitive position or have a compelling opportunity to build one. These include a number of key emerging and more developed markets – US, Middle East, Germany, UK, Canada, Greater China, India, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Mexico and Indonesia. These currently represent 85 per cent of the IHG System and 89 per cent of the pipeline. We focus our brand building efforts and prioritise the investment in infrastructure in these markets, for instance, by adapting our websites to the local language and deploying dedicated sales teams. Depending on the market, we will adapt our model and proposition to owners to take into account local market characteristics.

The Performance section provides details of how we have performed in each of our regions and priority markets.

Highest opportunity segments

Why we think this is important

Typically, the traditional hotel industry is segmented according to price point, and IHG is focused on the three segments that generate over 66 per cent^* of branded hotels revenue – namely, midscale, upscale and luxury. We believe these segments have the highest growth opportunity and strongest resilience to the industry/economic cycle. However, we also recognise that guests choose a hotel based on their needs and the occasion, resulting in the possibility of the same guest staying across multiple hotel segments.

What we are doing

Our portfolio of brands is targeted around differing occasion segments. We tailor each of our brands to meet guests’ needs, looking at the differing occasion they are travelling for and their need for travelling.

We used this segmentation analysis to develop the brand proposition for both the HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts and EVEN Hotels brands (see page 20). It was also a consideration in the acquisition of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants (see page 21).

Holiday Inn Manhattan – Financial District, New York, US

              HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, People’s Republic of China

              Crowne Plaza Beijing Lido, People’s Republic of China

We announced the launch of a new hotel brand, EVEN Hotels, in February 2012. In June 2014, we opened our first hotels under the brand in Norwalk, Connecticut and in Rockville, Maryland.

Winning Model

		Preferred brands delivered through our people

As part of having a portfolio of preferred brands, we continually review our portfolio of brands in light of the evolving needs and preferences of our guests. As part of this, EVEN Hotels was launched in 2012 as the first wellness lifestyle hotel brand. We developed the brand based on a large and growing traveller need for maintaining wellness routines while travelling. More than two years of research into consumer insights showed that there are 17 million wellness-minded travellers in the US alone who struggle to maintain healthy eating and exercise habits, get proper sleep and be productive when they are travelling away from home. Therefore, the brand was developed to meet a guest’s holistic wellness needs in the areas of exercise, food, work and rest. For example, an EVEN branded hotel offers nutritious menus and amenities, such as guest rooms designed for in-room workouts.

		Build and leverage scale

IHG has committed up to $150 million of its own capital to the development of the EVEN brand over the next few years. In the future, we will look to recycle this capital, just as we did for both the Staybridge Suites and Hotel Indigo brands. As part of matching the brand to the right location, we are looking at core urban areas, dense office parks and suburban markets as well as considering the expansion of the brand beyond the US. As at 31 December 2014, we had three hotels (584 rooms) signed into our development pipeline and two hotels (296 rooms) open.

		Strong brand portfolio and loyalty programme

We have been using our loyalty programme, IHG Rewards Club, to introduce our members to the EVEN Hotels brand, specifically targeting our communications at those guests who travel to, or have expressed an interest in, the locations of our first hotels, wellness or the brand itself.

		Effective channel management

As with our other brands, we have leveraged our existing booking platforms to create a brand-specific webpage targeted via the app. We have specifically customised it to be brand specific to EVEN Hotels, focusing on wellness needs with relevant content and healthy lifestyle features such as fitness videos, ambient sounds, a diary of wellness-focused events organised by the hotel, and ‘wellness travel tips’.

		Superior owner proposition

The EVEN Hotels brand allows owners to diversify their portfolio with a new IHG brand in a unique guest occasion segment. IHG, through its own capital investment, currently owns and manages the first two open EVEN hotels. Three additional hotels are currently in development. Owning and operating our first hotels enables us to showcase the brand to other potential owners.

Targeted Portfolio

Attractive markets

The US is one of our priority markets, and we opened the first EVEN hotels in cities where we have existing brand presence.

Highest opportunity segments

The EVEN Hotels brand has a strategic fit in our brand portfolio alongside Hotel Indigo, and now Kimpton, in the boutique and lifestyle segment. The brand is targeted at the unique segment of wellness and lifestyle.

Managed and franchised

We have used our own capital to develop the brand and will look to recycle this in the future. We will seek to accelerate growth for the brand through our managed and franchising model.

EVEN Hotel Rockville, Maryland, US

Our acquisition of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the world’s largest independent boutique hotel operator, completed in January 2015. Kimpton is a highly successful business with a US-based portfolio comprising 62 managed hotels (11,300 rooms) and a further 16 hotels (3,000 rooms) in the pipeline (as at 16 January 2015). A sophisticated food and beverage operator, Kimpton also runs 71 hotel-based destination restaurants and bars.

Winning Model

		Preferred brands delivered through our people

The Kimpton brand is renowned for having distinctive and innovative hotels located in attractive urban and resort locations. Each hotel aims to deliver a deeply personal, genuine and authentic service for guests and, whilst each hotel is unique, the brand has a number of common design and service principles and hallmarks. The Kimpton brand caters for a broad and varied range of guest needs.

The Lumen, A Kimpton Hotel, Dallas, Texas, US

		Build and leverage scale

The boutique segment, in which Kimpton operates, is the fastest growing in our industry over the last five years, and there is significant opportunity for future growth based on high levels of demand growth. We also believe the brand has enormous potential for growth outside the US and plan to capitalise on our scale, powerful distribution systems and owner networks to support its growth globally. We did this previously for our Hotel Indigo brand which started with a well-established base in the US and has now been expanded globally to 21 countries (including hotels in the pipeline).

		Strong brand portfolio and loyalty programme

The Kimpton brand has a strong strategic fit within our existing brand portfolio at the upper upscale price point. It is also highly complementary with our Hotel Indigo and EVEN Hotels brands, creating a leading boutique and lifestyle hotel business, with over 200 open and pipeline hotels across 21 countries.

We plan to leverage Kimpton’s market-leading insight and strong track record in operational excellence, food and beverage, and design, to add value across our brand portfolio. Kimpton’s loyalty programme (Kimpton Karma) members account for 25 per cent of its room bookings.

		Effective channel management

A large proportion of Kimpton’s business already comes through direct channels, driven by its most loyal guests. Each hotel has a dedicated website with engaging content, reflecting the boutique nature of the brand. We will leverage our digital platforms to accelerate Kimpton’s growth, whilst maintaining the uniqueness of Kimpton’s existing channels.

		Superior owner proposition

The addition of Kimpton to IHG’s brand portfolio offers owners another attractive option in the boutique segment and access to a brand with a strong track record at the upper upscale price point. Its presence in the most attractive markets in the US has delivered excellent financial performance for both the business and its hotel owners. It also enables IHG to raise awareness of other IHG brands among owners of Kimpton branded hotels. Kimpton’s strong brand, combined with our scale and booking and distribution channels, will drive superior returns for owners.

Targeted Portfolio

Attractive markets

The US is one of our priority markets and Kimpton hotels currently have presence in the most attractive urban and resort locations, as well as the highest RevPAR markets such as San Francisco and New York.

Highest opportunity segments

The boutique hotel segment has been the fastest growing in our industry over the last five years, with demand, supply and RevPAR growth in boutique hotels in the US each significantly outperforming the overall industry.

Managed and franchised

Kimpton is a fully asset-light brand, operating hotels under management contracts.

Why we think it is important

Driving efficient operational processes and managing our costs allows us to contribute to hotel performance through efficient practices, tools and systems. It also helps us strengthen our revenue delivery systems which means an increase in system contribution to hotel revenue, supporting our owner proposition and maximising our investment in building preferred brands. Careful cost management, leveraging our scale and focusing on productivity improvements also allows us to drive continued improvement in our margin.

What we are doing

To maximise the scale and efficiency of our operations, we:

Why we think it is important

As identified on page 11, technology, as used by travellers, is playing an increasingly important role in shaping the travel industry. The internet, which is now more than ever accessed through mobile devices, is used extensively to research, plan and book travel. In emerging markets, consumers are going straight to mobile devices, and there are now twice as many mobile internet users in China than internet users in the US. Guests are also seeking greater levels of personalisation, and are sharing their experiences instantly via social media.

We believe that keeping abreast of the evolving traveller trends and investing in technology systems will assist us in building brand preference, strengthen our loyalty programme and deliver compelling and engaging digital content across the ‘Guest Journey’ (which comprises five steps – Dream, Plan, Book, Stay and Share), thereby enabling us to build lifetime relationships with our guests.

What we are doing

To deliver the highest quality digital content for our guests, we are ensuring that we have the right technology foundations and infrastructure in place. In 2014, we:

Improving our technology infrastructure gives us the foundation to transform the guest experience and make it more interactive through digital content. In 2014, we:

Why we think it is important

We believe that by ensuring our business is committed to responsible business practices we will enhance and protect the reputation of IHG and our brands. It provides us with the opportunity to protect the environment, create job opportunities, improve community resilience and make us more innovative. Doing the right thing in the right way enables us to make an even greater contribution to the locations where we operate. It also ensures we act in a manner that benefits all of our stakeholders, including employees, guests, corporate customers, owners and the local community, who are increasingly considering whether the businesses with which they interact share their values. This provides us with a competitive edge, assisting us to deliver profitable growth and create shared value for all stakeholders in the long term.

What we are doing

Our commitment to responsible business is part of our culture. Our responsible business practices include:

Governance and leadership

Our Chairman, the Board and its Committees provide a strong leadership and governance structure. They promote responsible business behaviour by maintaining high standards of corporate governance, internal controls and risk management and compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

For information on our Board and governance processes, see pages 54 to 91.

Commitment to responsible business practices

We have a reputation for delivering a consistent and superior guest experience, we provide a safe and secure environment and we actively engage with our communities. Our brands are valuable assets and doing business responsibly enhances their reputation and builds trust and brand preference.

Responsible procurement

Our Vendor Code of Conduct sets out standards to which we require our supply chain partners to operate. We are committed to promoting diversity across our responsible procurement agenda and have set targets to ensure corporate responsibility criteria are integrated into the selection and evaluation process for preferred suppliers.

Health, safety and security

A safe and secure environment for our guests, employees and those working at or visiting our hotels and corporate offices is important. IHG has therefore established a set of policies, procedures and measures, and complies with relevant legislation. We ensure the protection and well-being of those working for IHG through suitable work-based strategies, minimise the risk of injury from work activity, ensure that sufficient information is provided and systems are in place to address health and safety concerns, and involve employees in the continuous improvement, reporting and review of health and safety matters.

Risk management

We have in place an effective system of internal controls and risk management to identify, assess, prioritise and mitigate risks to our business, guests and employees, which enables us to achieve our shared objectives. This is an essential part of being a responsible business.

For information on our risk management practices and systems of internal controls, see pages 26 to 29.

People

Being a responsible business cannot be achieved without the support and active engagement of our people. They are fundamental to ensuring we operate an ethical business. Our Winning Ways (see page 23) are a set of behaviours that we internally promote to assist with how we interact with our guests and colleagues.

As part of acting responsibly and putting in place a responsible business ethos, we have policies and training in place to ensure our people are kept aware of and understand the key legal and regulatory areas affecting them in their roles, such as competition, anti-bribery and data privacy laws and procedures, crisis management and brand safety standards. We do this through a range of programmes, policies and training, which we regularly keep under review and which are communicated via e-learning and face-to-face training modules.

Our Code of Conduct consolidates and clarifies expected standards of behaviour and communicates the ethical values of the Group. It is applicable to all Directors, officers and employees and is available at www.ihgplc.com/investors under corporate governance.

We also have a confidential disclosure channel to provide employees with a means to report any ethical concerns they may have.

For information on our investment in developing our talent and who are our employees, see page 23.

Human rights

We focus on those areas of human rights most relevant to our business, ensuring the rights of the local people where we operate are protected. We are working to raise further awareness of our human rights approach in our hotels through embedding it as a brand standard, and will continue to develop our training materials. We are a signatory to the UN Global Compact, aligning our operations and strategies with the 10 universal principles that include commitments to human rights and labour standards. We are part of the Business in the Community cross industry working group on human rights as well as the International Tourism Partnership’s Human Trafficking Working Group. We are also working with our internal procurement team to embed further our human rights approach into our contracts.

Corporate responsibility

Our global scale provides us with an opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment and communities in which we operate. Our five-year corporate responsibility targets, released in September 2013, focus on measuring this impact.

Each one of our hotels is a central part of its community, from creating jobs and stimulating local economic opportunities, to managing their environmental impact in a responsible way and providing shelter in times of need. We work to develop new and better ways to assist owners to build and operate IHG branded hotels, creating sustainable value for our brands, business and stakeholders, as well as addressing social and environmental challenges. Our three bespoke corporate responsibility programmes are a key part of this and we

work very closely with our owners and colleagues to maximise the positive impact of these initiatives:

IHG’s approach to risk management

The Board is ultimately accountable for risk management across the organisation. It is supported by the Audit Committee, the Executive Committee and other delegated committees who collectively set the tone and appetite for risk management at IHG.

This is cascaded down to the day-to-day activities of IHG corporate offices and hotels through well-established and continuously improving policies, processes, systems and controls which set out clear accountability, and are supported by tools, training and communication to ensure risks are effectively managed.

Risks are further identified, assessed, mitigated and monitored by functional specialists and, where deemed necessary, periodically reviewed by internal and external auditors. These activities are typically grouped into ‘Three Lines of Defence’ as shown on the right. IHG’s Global Risk Management team provide subject matter expertise, leadership and support across all these activities.

Embedded risk management processes

IHG has in place a Major Risk Review process to:

The Major Risks align closely with our strategy and business priorities, and also identify those issues which are most likely to significantly affect other operational, commercial or reputational matters and, as such, are regularly discussed at senior leadership team and committee meetings.

Our Risk Working Group (RWG) ensures there is sufficient focus and effective management of the Major Risks, and seeks to improve cross-functional working and effective risk management of the highest priority and emerging risks affecting IHG. The RWG is chaired by the General Counsel and Company Secretary and comprises the heads of Global Risk Management, Global Strategy, Programme Office and Global Internal Audit.

Underpinning the Group’s Major Risk Review process, each of the regions and functions have their own risk profiles that are updated quarterly in line with the activities of the strategic planning cycle. During the interim periods, continuous dialogue takes place between risk owners and risk subject-matter experts to develop, execute and monitor detailed risk assessments, risk mitigation strategies, controls and key risk indicators.

Group results

Highlights for the year ended 31 December 2014

Revenue decreased by $45m (2.4%) to $1,858m and operating profit before exceptional items decreased by $17m (2.5%) to $651m during the year ended 31 December 2014, due in part to the disposal of owned hotels in line with the Group’s asset-light strategy.

On 27 March 2014, IHG completed the disposal of its freehold interest in InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco for gross proceeds of $120m and a long-term contract to manage the hotel. On 31 March 2014, IHG completed the disposal of 80% of its interest in InterContinental New York Barclay for gross proceeds of $274m and a 30-year management contract with two 10-year extension rights, retaining the remaining 20% in a joint venture set up to own and refurbish the hotel (see page 49).

On 7 August 2014, the Group received a binding offer to acquire InterContinental Paris – Le Grand for gross proceeds of €330m and a 30-year management contract with three 10-year extension rights. The offer was subsequently accepted on 8 December 2014, with the transaction expected to complete by the end of the first half of 2015, subject to the satisfaction of certain standard conditions.

On an underlying¹ basis, revenue and operating profit increased by $94m (6.0%) and $57m (9.6%) respectively. The underlying results exclude InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco and InterContinental New York Barclay whilst under IHG ownership, the results of managed lease hotels, and the benefit of $7m liquidated damages receipts in 2014 and $46m liquidated damages receipts in 2013.

Comparable Group RevPAR (see Glossary on pages 184 and 185) increased by 6.1% (including an increase in average daily rate of 2.7%), led by particularly strong growth of 7.4% in The Americas. Group System size increased by 3.4% to 710,295 rooms whilst Group fee revenue² increased by 6.7%.

At constant currency, net central overheads decreased by $3m (1.9%) to $152m compared to 2013 (but at actual currency remained flat at $155m), helped by continued cost control, as well as additional technology fee income.

Group fee margin was 44.7%, up 1.5 percentage points on 2013, after adjusting for owned and leased hotels, managed leases and significant liquidated damages. Group fee margin benefited from strong growth in IHG’s scale markets.

Profit before tax of $600m was unchanged on 2013. Basic earnings per ordinary share increased by 12.3% to 158.3¢, whilst adjusted earnings per ordinary share remained flat at 158.3¢.

Highlights for the year ended 31 December 2013

Group revenue increased by $68m (3.7%) to $1,903m and operating profit before exceptional items increased by $63m (10.4%) to $668m.

On 1 May 2013, IHG completed the disposal of its leasehold interest in InterContinental London Park Lane for gross proceeds of $469m and a 30-year management contract with three 10-year extension rights.

On an underlying¹ basis, defined as reported results, excluding those from the InterContinental London Park Lane whilst under IHG ownership, results from managed lease hotels, together with the benefit of $46m liquidated damages receipts in 2013 and a $3m liquidated damages receipt in 2012, revenue and operating profit increased by $68m (4.2%) and $44m (7.8%) respectively when translated at constant currency and applying 2012 exchange rates.

Fee revenue² increased by 4.3%, with comparable Group RevPAR growth of 3.8% over the period (including an increase in average daily rate of 1.8%) and IHG System size growth of 1.6% to 686,873 rooms.

At constant currency, net central overheads decreased from $162m to $157m in 2013 ($155m at actual currency), helped by continued tight cost control, as well as additional technology fee income.

Group fee margin was 43.2%, up 1.3 percentage points on 2012, after adjusting for owned and leased hotels, managed leases and significant liquidated damages.

Profit before tax increased by $53m to $600m. Adjusted earnings per ordinary share increased by 13.9% to 158.3¢.

Global total gross revenue

One measure of IHG System performance is the growth in total gross revenue, defined as total room revenue at franchised hotels and total hotel revenue at managed, owned and leased hotels. Total gross revenue is not revenue attributable to IHG, as it represents revenue generated mainly at hotels owned by third parties.

Total gross revenue increased by 5.6% (7.4% increase at constant currency) to $22.8bn, primarily driven by strong comparable RevPAR growth across the Group of 6.1% compared to 2013, coupled with an increase in System size of 3.4%.

Global hotel and room count

During 2014, the global IHG System (the number of hotels and rooms which are franchised, managed, owned or leased by the Group) increased by 143 hotels (23,422 rooms) to 4,840 hotels (710,295 rooms).

The Group continued to expand its global footprint, opening hotels in nearly 30 different countries and territories and delivering its highest net System size growth since 2009. 40% of 2014 openings were in developing markets, as classified by The World Bank, with 22% of the closing rooms balance located in these markets representing an increase of one percentage point from 31 December 2013. 123 hotels (17,630 rooms) were removed in 2014, a decrease from the previous year (142 hotels, 24,576 rooms).

Openings of 266 hotels (41,052 rooms) were 15.7% higher than in 2013. This included 140 hotel openings (15,190 rooms) in the Holiday Inn brand family in The Americas and four hotels (834 rooms) as part of the US government’s Privatisation of Army Lodgings (PAL) initiative, as well as the first two hotels (296 rooms) for the wellness-focused EVEN Hotels brand. 34 hotels (10,648 rooms) were opened in Greater China in 2014, up 38.8% from last year and the region’s highest on record, with the Europe and AMEA regions contributing openings of 35 hotels (5,353 rooms) and 19 hotels (4,228 rooms) respectively.

Global pipeline