(Reuters) -Hilton Worldwide beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, as strong demand for business travel led to higher bookings for the hotel operator.
The company has been benefiting from a recovery in bookings for conferences and conventions by large enterprises, but travel demand across the globe has been mixed, with the post-pandemic boom in leisure travel slowing down.
«Despite a mixed operating environment for the industry, HLT continues to demonstrate solid growth momentum with new brands in new markets,» said David Katz, analyst at Jefferies.
In November, Hilton launched its Spark brand hotel in India, and said it expects to quadruple the number of hotel rooms in the country in the next five years.
The McLean, Virginia-based company posted an adjusted profit of $1.76 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.68, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Its total revenue of $2.78 billion came roughly in-line with expectations of $2.77 billion.
Quarterly RevPAR in the U.S., the company’s biggest market in terms of hotel rooms, rose 2.9% from a year earlier, while that in Asia-Pacific rose 1.7%, showing signs of recovery after a 3.4% decline in the third quarter.
Shares of the company were up 2% in light premarket trading.
Hilton’s development pipeline grew 8% to 498,600 rooms in the quarter, and the company now expects net unit growth of 6% to 7% in 2025.
However, it forecast 2025 net income between $1.829 billion and $1.858 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $1.896 billion.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
