As part of its fourth-quarter earnings report, InterContinental Hotels Group announced the acquisition the German hotel brand Ruby hotels—a move aimed at expanding its footprint in the premium urban lifestyle segment. The deal, valued at about $116 million, is expected to enhance IHG’s portfolio and provide growth opportunities in key city destinations—including the Americas.
The deal comes as IHG reports strong results for 2024, with operating profit from reportable segments rising 10 percent.
IHG’s full-year results for 2024 include a revenue increase of 7 percent to $2.31 billion from reportable segments, with total global revenue reaching $4.92 billion, up 6 percent from the previous year. The net system growth was reported at 4.3 percent, driven by the addition of 371 new hotels to IHG’s portfolio.
“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our teams around the world, 2024 was an excellent year of financial performance, strong growth and important progress against a clear strategy that is unlocking the full potential of our business for all stakeholders," IHG Hotels & Resorts CEO Elie Maalouf said in a statement. "[Revenue per available room] growth accelerated in Q4, reflecting the breadth of our global footprint and improvements in all three regions.
"Strong demand globally from hotel owners and developers for our brands drove the opening of 371 hotels and an impressive 714 properties signed into our pipeline, equivalent to almost two a day. The 106,000 rooms signed were 34 percent more than the previous year. Our global estate now stands at over 6,600 hotels, and momentum continued into 2025 with the recent celebration of our 800th opening in Greater China. Our global pipeline increased 10 percent to over 2,200 hotels, representing future system size growth of 33 percent."
Ruby Hotels
The Ruby brand operates 20 hotels across major European cities, including London, Vienna and Munich. The brand has an additional 10 properties in the pipeline, with locations set to open in cities such as Rome, Edinburgh and Marseille.
IHG plans to accelerate Ruby’s global expansion, particularly in the Americas and Asia, leveraging its distribution network and loyalty program.
"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of the Ruby brand, which further enriches our portfolio with an exciting, distinct and high-quality offer for both guests and owners in popular city destinations," Maalouf said. "This acquisition demonstrates our focus on building our presence in large, attractive industry segments and using our experience of integrating and growing brands and hotel portfolios. The urban micro space is a franchise-friendly model with attractive owner economics, and we see excellent opportunities to not only expand Ruby’s strong European base but also rapidly take this exciting brand to the Americas and across Asia, as we have successfully done with previous brand acquisitions."