InterContinental Hotels Group's pipeline of new developments will be hit by the global economic downturn, its chief executive has warned, though rivals would find life tougher still.

"We are seeing some slowdown in the opening speed of hotels, especially at the top end," said Andrew Cosslett, chief executive of the UK-listed company, which is the world's largest hotel group by numbers of rooms.

The downturn is starting to grip the world's big hotel brands as leisure travellers and businesses rein in their travel plans and developers struggle to complete openings.

Sentiment has hit lodging stocks for much of the year but the global financial crisis and downturn are putting share prices under more pressure. Marriott took a mauling when it announced a 28 per cent fall in third-quarter profit and the likelihood of a slowing development pipeline.

IHG, which has more than 4,000 hotels and 600,000 rooms in 100 countries, has until now been fairly bullish.

But Smith Travel, which researches the lodging industry, reports occupancy falls of about 7 per cent in the US, an 8 per cent drop in revenue per available room, the industry benchmark, and a slowdown in openings.

IHG has 1,788 new openings in the pipeline and Mr Cosslett admitted for the first time that some of its openings could be delayed by "up to a few months".

He added: "We could slow down in some projects while others might disappear. But we are opening one hotel a day and signing up another two so we expect to deliver revenue improvement even in the event of a slowdown."

He also insisted that IHG, whose brands include InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn, was better positioned than its industry rivals because three-quarters of the group's pipeline is in the mid-market range, a segment where developments are largely being financed by regional banks.

Upmarket hotel developments are more reliant on funding from Wall Street banks, which are now financially challenged.

Mr Cosslett said that the downturn would benefit the industry's leading operators. "It will accelerate the erosion of the market share held by independents and smaller chains. They will become ever more marginalised."

Mr Cosslett was speaking on the sidelines of the Hicap hotel investment conference in Hong Kong, where IHG unveiled the Asia-Pacific launch of Indigo, its boutique hotel chain.

In spite of a looming slowing of the growth rate, he said that he remained bullish about the group's China expansion plans given the mainland government's huge expenditure on infrastructure.

"China will be the world's number one destination for inbound travel within five years and we are well positioned to assume leadership positions in all hotel segments right across the country," he added.