IHG CEO Sees Credit Cards as Key to Unlocking More Growth

Photo Caption: Elie Maalouf, CEO and executive director of IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) speaking with Vicki Stern, leader of the European Leisure Research team at Barclays, at the Barclays Eat, Sleep, Play Conference in late November 2023. Source: IHG.
Skift Take
IHG believes its larger peers make 10 times as much in fees from co-branded credit cards than it does. So it has room to grow this profitable revenue.
IHG Hotels & Resorts CEO Elie Maalouf has been on the circuit talking up his hotel group's strategy for growth. One of his notable talking points has been on the company's co-branded credit cards with Chase.
Maalouf recently noted some new facts about IHG's credit card aspirations when speaking at Barclays' "Eat, Sleep, Play" conference.
Today, the hotel group generates approximately $100 million yearly in fees from its total credit card business. A few years ago, all the fees went to owners who provided guest benefits, such as free stays when loyalty members redeem points. (Owners of hotels separately also pay fees into a loyalty "system fund" on each paid stay, which is later shared with hotels to cover the