Crowne Plaza’s boss explains why he will keep his hotel empire in Britain

Elie Maalouf cannot be accused of being too PC. InterContinental Hotels Group’s chief executive, who was born in Lebanon, recalls what it was like to be sent away at age six to a school that spoke English, despite having no knowledge of the language.

The 60-year old woman, who is sitting in the sumptuous suite on the top floor of the InterContinental London Park Lane, says: “Today it would probably be called child abuse.” “Seriously. Given how sensitive people can be.”

His PR handlers are gulping down their lattes.

Hyde Park is awash in sunshine. London is having a postcard-perfect day, with a blue sky punctuated only by wispy cloud and aeroplane contrails.

Maalouf was in a good mood for his first interview, not only because it is sunny outside. IHG has grown from strength to strength under his leadership. The £13 billion hotel juggernaut, whose brands include Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, and Kimpton, is a thriving business. Shares of the FTSE 100 stalwart are up by more than 50%.

The company has about 375,000 employees in nearly 6,400 hotels worldwide. Despite a challenging economic environment, revenues increased last year by almost a fifth, to $4.6 billion. (£3.5 billion), and pre-tax profit nearly doubled from $540 to $1 billion.

IHG’s origins go back to Britain’s early “beerage elite” — the wealthy beer barons that made fortunes off pub-going Brits. William Bass established his eponymous brewery empire in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire in 1777. He opened pubs in the area and later added inns.

Elie Maalouf, a US-born Lebanese who was raised in Lebanon, says: “I am more American than just my name but less American than only my accent”.

In the 1980s Bass bought the Holiday Inn brand outside of America. In the early 2000s the group was divided into two parts: Mitchells & Butlers pubs, and IHG hotels.

The hotelier has achieved a lot of success in the past few years by pioneering a “asset-light business model”. The hotel sold its long-term leases and freeholds to investors but kept running the hotels through management contracts. It raised $8 billion from the sale of properties. With this money, it launched and bought more brands. Now, there are 19 in total.

Maalouf’s favourite? He says, “I don’t have a favourite,” in a somewhat unconvincing way.

Maalouf, dressed in a blue suit with an open-necked shirt and a white decaf skinny coffee, explains the plans he has for IHG’s future. He says that integrating newer chains, such as budget brand Garner, will be crucial, but that geographical expansion is more important.

The InterContinental London Park Lane hotel is one of 6,400 hotels owned by the company worldwide

He says, “We are very large in North America and Europe, with nearly 800 hotels.” “But other markets have great potential – established markets such as Japan, where we are a small player but the market is huge. There are also emerging markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East like Saudi Arabia. We have enough hotels in the pipeline to double our business.

A second priority is the growth of branded “residences”, which are luxury apartments or homes that are tied to a brand name. This allows customers to benefit from the amenities provided by the brand. Maalouf estimates that branded residences account for about half of the new opportunities within the luxury sector.

Maalouf was born in the US while his father studied there in 1964. He grew up in Lebanon, his family’s homeland. He says, “I am more American than just my name but less American than only my accent.”

In the 1960s, Lebanon was a relatively stable country. Brigitte Bárdot and Peter O’Toole were frequent visitors to Beirut’s Beach Club Hotels. Maalouf’s father, who was a UN diplomat at this time, began to sense the growing political tensions by the decade’s end. The family moved to Algeria, then Italy where they watched in horror as the civil war broke out in the 1970s.

Maalouf, who had never spoken an English word before, was sent to an American school in Rome. “But I figured out and moved forward,” he said.

After completing his studies in Italy, he moved to the US to study engineering at Virginia Tech, followed by an MBA from the University of Virginia. Then he took a job at Weyerhaeuser’s real estate division in Washington DC, which is one of America’s largest timber companies.

Maalouf’s parents moved to Washington, D.C. in 1993 to retire from Italy. Maalouf was a family man who looked forward to being closer to his parents as they aged. He was then offered a dream position at Weyerhaeuser’s Seattle head office, which is nearly 3,000 miles from his home.

He recalls, “I’ll always remember my father telling me, “Just do it. We’ll see eachother, we’ll work it out.” “I felt bad because they waited all these years for us to be closer. We were now packing up to leave.

Maalouf’s career was transformed when he moved with his wife from the east of the US to the west, in part because Seattle is home to many of the new business giants. Microsoft was booming and Starbucks was just getting started. We had four wonderful years from 1993 to 1997. “I made many great friends.”

Maalouf was determined to go back to Washington to be with his parents. When a senior position opened up at HMSHost in Washington, a spinoff of Marriott Hotels Group, he jumped on it. But tragedy struck. He pauses to reflect, “My father died before we even told them,” he says.

He shrugs and says, “You can’t always plan everything perfectly.” But I knew he wouldn’t have regretted our move. In those four years, I learned a lot. “You get to see the inner workings of an organization, even if you are just carrying bags and shuffling paper for people.”

Maalouf, who was previously the chief executive officer of HMSHost before joining McKinsey in 2012, was then headhunted by IHG to lead its North American division in 2015.

He claims that his success is due to working closely with senior executives. This is also why he has concerns for the younger generations, as the trend of working from home after the pandemic becomes more common.

Maalouf is not a fan of remote working. IHG encourages flexible working and allows people to work from home occasionally. It’s a great idea, particularly in the travel industry. In reality, personal growth and development is largely a result of observation, interaction, and learning soft skills. It is difficult to be an effective leader without first observing the natural state of leadership.

“My concern is that the younger generation will be misled into believing that remote work can propel their career. I know that they are ambitious. I know that they have spent many hours and efforts on their education. “I just don’t think they should believe it is possible to do this in their pajamas and from the comfort of their living room.”

In the last 18 months, a growing number of London listed companies have moved to America in order to access larger pools of capital. Three of the largest companies to leave the London Stock Exchange are Cement-maker CRH and building supplies company Ferguson. Bookmaker Flutter and oil major Shell have also been reported as considering options.

Will IHG leave the UK stock exchange? Answer is ambiguous: “We do not have any plans to change anything at this time.” You can assume, however, that given our responsibility to our shareholders, our board will periodically evaluate all options to create sustainable shareholder values. We don’t currently have any plans. “It’s not at the top of my list.”

Maalouf spent the last few weeks visiting institutional investors. What are their thoughts on moving the listing from London to New York City? “We don’t have a strong drive. I just spent a great deal of time with shareholders. “It’s not the main theme for our investors.”

He says that Britain is much more than people realize. There’s a tendency for people to be overly critical of many things. The weather in the UK, despite the constant complaints about it, is still underrated. “My wife and I think that the weather here is quite pleasant.”

This is a controversial statement, especially after the summer that we have had.

Maalouf is a fan of Carlos Santana and Maine was the setting for his wedding anniversary.