Americas hotel market flat

The world's largest hotelier InterContinental Hotels Group Plc said the hotel market in the Americas came to a standstill in August as the economic downturn in the United States begins to bite.

The British-based owner of the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands, which earns almost 70 percent of its income from the United States, said revenue per available room (RevPAR) across the Americas was flat in August. The group said RevPAR, a key industry measure, was up 2.2 percent in July.

In a note to investors, Landsbanki said it would expect RevPAR to soften in the coming months and added its forecast of 1 percent growth for the year "now looks broadly right".