Next week, IHG hopes to make a big impression on global business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where it has just opened its latest InterContinental.

　　Call Richard Solomons and the InterContinental Hotels Group predictable and you won’t hear much argument. But reliable, the hotels chief executive points out, does not mean dull.

　　Solomons has been on the board of IHG for almost 14 years, spending the past two and a half years in the head role. He has become the Steady Eddy of the FTSE 100.

　　IHG was formerly part of Six Continents, the hospitality giant that emerged from the Bass brewing empire, and was floated as an independent company in April 2003. Since then, its story has changed very little, if at all.

　　The group behind the InterContinental, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands has been consistently selling off hotels as part of a long-standing “asset light strategy”.

　　Put simply, it prefers to leave property ownership to the real estate giants and to get on with the business of running hotels, striking long-term contracts with the owners.

　　The proceeds are then invested in its brands – of which there are now nine – and regularly returned to shareholders through bumper dividends and buybacks.

　　Barely a year goes by without IHG unveiling another significant return to shareholders. Last August it rewarded its investors with a $350m (£212m) special dividend and it’s hardly surprising that analysts are already talking about another return in the order of $300m in their 2014 forecasts.

　　IHG has so far returned $9.4bn to shareholders since it was de-merged from Mitchells & Butlers, the pubs and restaurants business spun out of Six Continents.

　　Predictable? Solomons, who joined Bass back in 1992 and has remained with the company through its various incarnations, holds his hands up.

　　"That’s a good thing isn’t it?” he says sitting in the club lounge of the InterContinental Park Lane, which was sold to a Qatari investment group for £301.5m last March.

　　He stresses it’s a tough job steering such a steady course. “You’ll hear that more from the analysts than from the investors,” he says of his reputation as Mr Reliable. “It’s hard work. The balance sheet returns to shareholders is all part of it, but ultimately we are a hotel business and what we spend our time on is looking after customers and speaking to owners.

　　"I know that sounds a bit trite, but it’s what we do. We are not going to do something just to cause a surprise. From an investment perspective, I think we have got the highest quality income stream in the industry because of that.”

　　IHG may not have departed from its strategy, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t ventured into new territory.

　　It’s not Solomons’ style to boast. Immaculate in a grey suit and green tie, he only reluctantly gives up any personal information, such as the reason for his winter tan – a festive holiday in Dubai with his family.

　　In the past two years IHG has unveiled two new brands, including the much anticipated Hualuxe chain aimed at the increasingly wealthy Chinese consumer – the first of which will open in the Far East this year but may eventually cross the seas to serve Chinese tourists on visits to key cities such as London.

　　Then there’s Even, the fitness and health hotel to which IHG has committed $150m and which is aimed at Americans who are often on the road but want to stay in shape while abroad.

　　Next week, IHG hopes to make a big impression on global business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where it has just opened its latest InterContinental.

　　Solomons will be going to the forum for the first time, to launch the hotelier’s latest global trends report.

　　Davos won’t be the only political hob-nobbing that Solomons, a former investment banker, has been doing of late.

　　He was one of the business leaders to accompany the Prime Minister last month during his trade visit to China, where IHG is rapidly building an empire.