It posted an operating profit of $138 million versus a loss of $233 million a year earlier but held off on paying an interim dividend to cut costs.

Vaccinations and easing travel curbs hav
e helped the hospitality industry, but the highly-contagious Delta variant https://reut.rs/3Cvr9Cu is causing uncertainty as COVID-19 cases rise again and the pace of inoculation is uneven globally https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access.

The recovery has been most advanced in Greater China and leisure bookings continue to be strong in the United States, its biggest market, London-listed IHG said.

However, things had "gotten tougher" in markets such as Australia and Japan, finance chief Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson said on a media call, adding that recent domestic travel restrictions in China https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-keep-covid-19-border-restrictions-another-year-wsj-2021-06-22 would have a short term impact on IHG.

The company, which also owns the Crowne Plaza and Regent brands and has about 6,000 hotels in more than 100 countries, said overall occupancy rates were improving.

About half of its hotels in July reported revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key performance indicator, above pre-pandemic levels, it said. In the reported period, RevPAR grew 20% compared to last year.

"Essential business travel was a key element of our resilience throughout the pandemic, and we are now seeing more group activity and corporate bookings start to come back," CEO Keith Barr said in a statement https://www.ihgplc.com/-/media/ihg/files/results/2021/interims-2021/ihg-sea-hy-2021.pdf.

The company had called 2020 the most challenging year https://www.reuters.com/article/intercontinentalhotels-results-idCNL4N2KT1JB in its 200-year history.

It said it plans to launch a new brand of hotels in the coming weeks to strengthen its position in the luxury market.

IHG shares, which fell 10% in 2020, were down 0.2% at 4,721 pence by 0758 GMT in volatile trading.

Rival Marriott, the world's largest hotel chain, beat second-quarter profit https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/marriott-posts-quarterly-profit-travel-recovery-2021-08-03 forecasts last week.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jason Neely)

By Pushkala Aripaka