The parent company of Holiday Inns, IHG, announced on Tuesday that it anticipates paying out more than $1 billion to shareholders in 2024. This comes after the company reported higher-than-expected yearly room sales and its first-ever adjusted operating profit over $1 billion.

The company is aiming for high a single-digit increase in fee income, according to Chief Executive Elie Maalouf, who also outlined his plan. Over the medium to long term, this will be achieved by increasing revenue per room and the average number of hotels annually.

In addition to initiating a fresh $800 million share repurchase program, the owner of the Crowne Plaza, Regent, and Hualuxe hotel chains increased its final dividend by 10% to 104 cents.

“The travel industry has attractive, long-term drivers of demand, and the strength of our brand portfolio and enterprise platform will continue to boost our RevPAR and system size growth,” stated Maalouf, who assumed the top position in July after overseeing the group’s largest region, the Americas, for approximately nine years.

Against the average estimate of analysts of 15.7%, IHG reported a year-over-year increase in global revenue per available room, a key performance measure for the hotel business, of 16.1%.