InterContinental hunts for new buyer for New York Barclay The hotels giant, which has more than 4,500 hotels worldwide, on Tuesday posted a 1pc increase in third quarter revenue to $473m on pre-tax profits down 23pc to $150m owing to a $56m exceptional credit during the same period in 2011. Despite the "challenging" economic headwinds battering many of IHG's markets, Mr Solomons remained upbeat about the group's ability to continue outperforming the rest of the industry and to drive revenues as it expands rapidly, particularly in China. Globally it has 1,042 hotels in the pipeline, 40pc of which are already under construction. But the hotels chief did acknowledge revenue per available room - a key metric in the industry - in China could be impacted for "some months" by imminent changes to the Communist party leadership. In China the linkage between business and government is much more than in most other markets so the decisions around activity have all slowed down. Big meetings are not taking place," Mr Solomons said. RevPAR in China fell 0.9pc in September and 0.3pc in October, also due to the dispute with Japan over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, islands in the East China Sea, which prompted a reduction in the number of Japanese tourists to cities such as Hong Kong. Rival hotels group Starwood, which owns the Sheraton and Westin brands, recently cut its forecast for RevPAR growth due to the slowdown in China. However, Mr Solomons argued the current issues in China were "short-term" and he was "very, very confident" about the longer-term outlook for the market. IHG has been accused by the Office of Fair Trading of alleged price-fixing - a charge it refutes.