InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, the largest hotel operator in the world by number of rooms, announced today that its net profit doubled in the first quarter of the fiscal. The hotel group said that its revenue per available room was reported positive for the first time in last 18 months.

InterContinental said that the strong first quarter performance was mainly attributable its Asian business, and in particular China. InterContinental said that its net profit was reported of $54 million for the first quarter ended March 31, increasing by 100% while it was reported of $27 million in the same period last year.

Total revenue in the first quarter was reported of $362 million, increasing by 3.1% while it was reported of $351 million in the previous corresponding period. The operating profit in the first quarter was reported of $83 million, increasing by 15% while it was reported of $72 million in the same quarter last year.

First quarter operating profit beats the expectation of the market analysts as they were anticipating an operating profit of $79.2 million for the period. InterContinental said that the revenue per available room or RevPAR was reported up by 0.2% in the first quarter. In China, RevPAR was reported up by 22% in the first quarter. The company also said that it had added 5151 net rooms in the first quarter of the year.