One ordinary share of InterContinental Hotels Group backs each IHG American depositary share on the New York Stock Exchange, so any brokerage account with access to US-listed shares can buy the company behind Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental in US dollars. IHG owns or leases fewer than 1% of the rooms that carry its brands: at the end of 2025, 73% were franchised and 27% managed for other owners, which is why fees rather than room sales decide its profit. Below: how those fees are earned, the order steps, what differs between the New York and London lines, and the risks named in its 20-F.
What Does IHG Do?
IHG puts its brands, booking systems and loyalty programme on hotels that other people own. At the end of 2025 its system counted nearly 7,000 open hotels with just over one million rooms in more than 100 countries. By October 2026 it listed 21 brands, from Six Senses, Regent and InterContinental through Kimpton, voco and Crowne Plaza to Holiday Inn Express, Garner and the extended-stay Staybridge Suites.
The mass market is the core. Hotels in the Essentials category, led by the Holiday Inn family, made up 60% of the system at the end of 2025, and the Holiday Inn brands alone accounted for 35% of the year's openings and signings. Luxury & Lifestyle was 14% of the system but 22% of the pipeline. The 20-F explains the split: "Hotels in the Essentials category tend to be franchised, while Luxury & Lifestyle hotels are predominantly managed."
The company is British. Bass, the brewer, bought Holiday Inn International in 1988 and the rest of the Holiday Inn brand in 1990, then added InterContinental in 1998. In April 2003 its successor, Six Continents, split into InterContinental Hotels Group and the pub business Mitchells & Butlers. The present holding company took that role in June 2005; it is registered in England and Wales and based in Windsor.
IHG opened a record 443 hotels in 2025 and signed 694 more, and it says its pipeline represents future system growth of 33%. Conversions, existing hotels that switch to an IHG brand, generated over 50% of room openings. The glue is IHG One Rewards, which passed 160 million members in 2025; members booked 66% of all room nights.
How IHG Makes Money
A franchised hotel pays IHG "a fixed percentage of rooms revenue." A managed hotel pays a base fee on its total revenue and typically an incentive fee, a share of the hotel's gross operating profit. In the 20-F's words, "revenue attributable to IHG is predominantly the fees charged to third-party hotel owners, rather than the entire revenue base of the hotels themselves."
That makes the headline revenue figure misleading on its own. In 2025 fees were only about 37% of total reported revenue, and owned and leased hotels about 10%. Another 33% came through the System Fund, the pool owners pay into for marketing, reservations and loyalty, which "is not managed to surplus or deficit for IHG over the longer term." The remaining 19% was reimbursable revenue, chiefly the cost of hotel staff that IHG employs and owners repay. Inside the fee business, franchise and base management fees made up 72%, incentive fees 10%, and Central revenue, mainly technology fees, co-brand licensing fees and loyalty income, 18%.
IHG therefore reports regional profit on a narrower basis that leaves out the System Fund and reimbursables:
| Region | Share of system rooms, end of 2025 | Share of segment revenue, 2025 | Share of segment operating profit, 2025 | How its hotels are run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Americas | 52% | 46% | 66% | 93% of rooms franchised |
| EMEAA | 28% | 33% | 24% | Franchise-led in the UK and Europe, mostly managed elsewhere; most owned and leased hotels |
| Greater China | 20% | 7% | 8% | Historically managed; franchised hotels reached 40% of open rooms in 2025 |
| Central | — | 15% | 2% | Technology, card and loyalty income, minus head-office costs |
Shares are calculated from the 20-F's regional results and revenue note. The Americas, and the US above all, carries the group because a franchised hotel adds revenue at little extra cost to IHG. Group fee margin reached 64.8% in 2025, up 3.6 percentage points; operating profit rose 15% and adjusted earnings per share 16%. After new agreements with its US co-brand card partners, the card fees in segment operating profit approximately doubled in 2025, and Central fee revenue rose 40.6%.
IHG Stock at a Glance
| Feature | IHG |
|---|---|
| Exchange | New York Stock Exchange (ADS); London Stock Exchange (ordinary shares, principal market) |
| Ticker | IHG on both exchanges |
| Security | ADS; one equals one ordinary share |
| Depositary | J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. |
| Sector | Hotels: brand franchising and hotel management |
| Index | FTSE 100 constituent |
| Headquarters | Windsor, England |
| Incorporated | England and Wales; group holding company since 2005 |
| Fiscal year | Calendar year, ending 31 December |
| Reporting | IFRS, in US dollars; Form 20-F each year, Form 6-K for results and trading updates |
| Shareholder returns | Interim and final dividends; a share buyback every year since 2022 |
| SEC identifier | CIK 858446 |
For live quotes, market value and yield, see the IHG stock page on Bitbase.
How to Buy IHG Stock
With a one-to-one ratio, the New York and London lines are claims on the same share. Since 2 January 2026 even the London line trades in US dollars, although the shares' nominal currency is still sterling. For most investors outside Britain, New York is the simpler route:
1. Pick the market. A broker that reaches the NYSE is enough for the ADS; for the London ordinary shares it must also connect to the LSE.
2. Complete account checks. Expect identity verification and a tax form that tells the broker how to treat your dividends.
3. Fund the account. Paying in from a non-dollar account means a currency conversion, whose spread can exceed the commission.
4. Confirm the line. Search IHG and check that it reads InterContinental Hotels Group ADS on the NYSE. EDGAR also lists ICHGF, an over-the-counter code that is not the NYSE listing.
5. Set the order type. The SEC describes a market order as one that buys "at the best available price," a price that "is not guaranteed," and a limit order as one that executes "at a specific price or better."
6. Decide the amount. FINRA notes that "the availability of fractional share trading varies by brokerage firm" and that "as a fractional share owner, you might not have shareholder voting rights."
What an ADS is. The SEC defines an ADR as a security that "represents shares of non-U.S. companies that are held by a U.S. depositary bank," and notes that ADRs "trade in U.S. dollars and clear through U.S. settlement systems." For IHG that bank is J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, which may charge ADS holders an annual service fee and transaction fees, sometimes by deducting them from cash dividends.
Stamp duty. The 20-F says UK stamp duty and SDRT are generally not payable when an ADS is bought or transferred, as long as the transfer documents are signed and kept outside the UK. Transfers of the ordinary shares are normally taxed at 0.5%.
Dividends and tax. IHG has set its dividends in US dollars since 2008. "Under current UK tax law, the Company will not be required to withhold tax at source from dividend payments it makes," but your country of residence may still tax them.
What Moves IHG Stock
US room revenue. With the Americas producing about two-thirds of segment profit, US revenue per available room (RevPAR), rooms revenue divided by available rooms, matters more than any other number. In 2025 US RevPAR slipped 0.1% and Americas fee revenue fell 1.6%. In the third quarter of 2026 US RevPAR rose 6.9%, with group bookings the strongest stay type.
Net rooms growth. Fees grow with the system. Net system size grew 4.7% in 2025 and 4.9% in the year to the third quarter of 2026, when the system passed 7,100 hotels. Signed hotels open only if owners find finance; conversions, quicker than new builds, made up about half of 2026 development, IHG says.
Greater China and the Middle East. Greater China holds 20% of IHG's rooms but produced 8% of segment profit in 2025, and its RevPAR fell 3.3% in the third quarter of 2026 after bad weather and shifted holidays. In the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, RevPAR fell 12% in that quarter "given their proximity to ongoing conflict."
Buybacks. Four programmes since 2022 cut the number of voting rights by 19%, and the 2026 programme, 74% complete on 21 October 2026, had removed a further 3.1%. A falling share count lifts earnings per share even when profit is flat.
Owners, Booking Platforms and Unions in IHG's Risk Factors
These items from the 20-F bear most directly on an IHG share.
AI intermediaries. "The entry of major technology platforms incorporating generative AI or large language models into travel planning and booking may act as a new form of intermediary, diverting bookings away from our direct channels," which could mean "increasing distribution costs or reducing the effectiveness of our loyalty proposition."
Owners' finance. "The availability and affordability of finance, which has remained a challenge in 2025, may restrict the supply of suitable hotel development opportunities," and "not every hotel in our development pipeline may develop into a new hotel that enters our system."
Cyber and labour. "In 2022, parts of the Group's technology systems were subject to unauthorised activity, causing disruption to the Group's booking channels and other applications." And "New York City, whose current contracts expire from July 2026, is currently in negotiations, with the potential for union-led activities up to and including strikes."
Beyond the business, dividends can stop: the board withdrew its final dividend for 2019 and resumed payments only at the end of 2021. Currency adds a layer, since "conducting business in currencies other than US dollars exposes us to fluctuations in exchange rates." IHG also borrows; S&P rates it BBB and Moody's Baa2, and some bonds pay a higher coupon if those ratings fall two notches.
How to Research IHG Yourself
IHG files with the SEC under CIK 858446 as a foreign private issuer. The 20-F for 2025 was filed on 26 February 2026; results, quarterly trading updates and buyback notices come as Form 6-K, most recently the third-quarter update of 22 October 2026. Full-year results for 2026 are expected on 23 February 2027.
Three checks help. In IHG's documents "ADR" usually means average daily rate, a hotel pricing measure, not American depositary receipt. Total revenue includes the System Fund and reimbursables, so judge profitability on the segment figures. And RevPAR is reported at constant exchange rates: in the third quarter of 2026, Greater China was down 3.3% on that basis but up 1.6% at actual rates.
For comparison, our Hilton stock guide and Marriott stock guide cover two US-listed hotel groups that also live on fees, and Bitbase's US stock list has quotes for other listed companies.
IHG Stock FAQ
Can I buy IHG stock with crypto?
Only after converting it. The ADS is priced and settled in US dollars at a broker, so the crypto has to be sold for dollars or another currency first, which can be a taxable event, and the proceeds paid into the brokerage account. What you then hold is a claim on an IHG share with dividends, unlike a crypto asset.
How many IHG shares does one ADS represent?
One. Each IHG ADS represents one ordinary share, the same share that trades in London under the same ticker, and since January 2026 both lines are quoted in US dollars.
Does IHG pay a dividend?
Yes, as an interim and a final dividend. The stated policy is to grow the ordinary dividend each year; the 2025 total was 10% higher than 2024's, the fourth year in a row with a 10% increase. Amounts and dates are announced by Form 6-K.
Does IHG own the hotels it brands?
Almost none. At the end of 2025 only 17 of nearly 7,000 hotels were owned or leased, under 1% of rooms. The rest belong to owners who franchise an IHG brand or hire IHG to manage the hotel.
Has IHG ever split or consolidated its shares?
Its filings record consolidations rather than splits. Nine of the special dividends and capital returns paid between 2004 and 2019 came with a share consolidation, which is why each share has an odd fractional nominal value in pence. Since 2022 surplus cash has gone into yearly buybacks instead.
Conclusion
IHG is a fee collector whose profit sits mostly in franchised American hotels, while its growth is coming from conversions, luxury brands and markets such as Greater China that still earn little. That mix decides how the share behaves: US RevPAR and the pace of net rooms growth matter more than the size of reported revenue. Read the next 20-F and trading update with those two lines in mind, and decide how much a single hotel franchisor should weigh in your portfolio.
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Disclaimer: This article is educational content from Bitbase Academy, provided for information only. It explains what a company or fund does and how the instruments referenced here differ from one another; it does not constitute investment, trading, tax, or financial advice, and it is neither a recommendation nor an endorsement of any security, token, or trading strategy. A tokenized stock is issued by a third party and is designed to give economic exposure to an underlying asset: it is not a share, it carries no shareholder rights, and it depends on the issuer's structure, eligibility rules, and redemption terms, which the issuer can change. Perpetual futures are leveraged derivatives that hold no underlying asset and can be liquidated, and trading hours, product availability, and eligibility differ by instrument and by jurisdiction and can change at any time. Written as of November 2026; verify everything yourself through company filings, the issuer's own documentation, and the product pages of the venue you trade on.
References
[1] InterContinental Hotels Group PLC Annual Report and Form 20-F 2025: business model, regions, risk factors, ADSs and taxation (SEC EDGAR) www.sec.gov
[2] IHG Form 20-F 2025, XBRL cover page R1.htm (SEC EDGAR) www.sec.gov
[3] IHG Form 20-F 2025, XBRL revenue by stream and region R83.htm (SEC EDGAR) www.sec.gov
[4] IHG 2026 Third Quarter Trading Update, 22 October 2026 (Form 6-K) www.sec.gov
[5] SEC Investor Bulletin: American Depositary Receipts www.sec.gov
[6] SEC Investor Bulletin: Trading Basics, market and limit orders www.sec.gov
[7] FINRA Investor Insights: Investing in Fractional Shares, 26 June 2025 www.finra.org
[8] SEC EDGAR company record for InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (CIK 858446) data.sec.gov
