Hilton Reports Fourth Quarter and Record Full Year Results

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. ("Hilton," "the Company," "we," "us" or "our") (NYSE:HLT) today reported its fourth quarter and full year 2024 results. Highlights include:

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• Diluted EPS was $2.06 for the fourth quarter and $6.14 for the full year, exceeding the high end of guidance
• Diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $1.76 for the fourth quarter and $7.12 for the full year, exceeding the high end of guidance
• Net income was $505 million for the fourth quarter and $1,539 million for the full year, exceeding the high end of guidance
• Adjusted EBITDA was $858 million for the fourth quarter and $3,429 million for the full year, exceeding the high end of guidance
• System-wide comparable RevPAR increased 3.5 percent and 2.7 percent, on a currency neutral basis, for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2023, exceeding the high end of guidance
• Approved 34,200 new rooms for development during the fourth quarter, bringing our development pipeline to 498,600 rooms as of December 31, 2024, representing growth of 8 percent from December 31, 2023
• Added 22,600 rooms to our system in the fourth quarter, resulting in 98,400 room openings for the full year, contributing to net unit growth of 7.3 percent from December 31, 2023
• Repurchased 3.1 million shares of Hilton common stock during the fourth quarter; bringing total capital return, including dividends, to $781 million for the quarter and $3.0 billion for the full year
• Full year 2025 system-wide RevPAR is projected to increase between 2.0 percent and 3.0 percent on a comparable and currency neutral basis compared to 2024; full year net income is projected to be between $1,829 million and $1,858 million; full year Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $3,700 million and $3,740 million
• Full year 2025 capital return is projected to be approximately $3.3 billion
• Net unit growth for 2025 is expected to be between 6.0 percent and 7.0 percent

Overview

Christopher J. Nassetta, President & Chief Executive Officer of Hilton, said, "We are pleased to report a strong fourth quarter, with both top and bottom line results exceeding our expectations. All segments drove RevPAR outperformance, with strong trends in leisure occupancy, as well as continued growth in business transient and group results, and we expect favorable trends to continue into 2025. We also delivered the highest number of approvals, construction starts and openings in our history in 2024, helping us achieve net unit growth of 7.3 percent. With a development pipeline of nearly half a million rooms, we are confident that we are well positioned to deliver net unit growth between 6.0 percent and 7.0 percent in 2025."

For the three months ended December 31, 2024, system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 3.5 percent compared to the same period in 2023 due to increases in both occupancy and ADR. Management and franchise fee revenues increased 4.8 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 2.7 percent compared to the same period in 2023 due to increases in both occupancy and ADR. Management and franchise fee revenues increased 9.1 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

For the three months ended December 31, 2024, diluted EPS was $2.06 and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $1.76, compared to $0.57 and $1.68, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2023. Net income and Adjusted EBITDA were $505 million and $858 million, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2024, compared to $150 million and $803 million, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2023.

For the year ended December 31, 2024, diluted EPS was $6.14 and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $7.12, compared to $4.33 and $6.21, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2023. Net income and Adjusted EBITDA were $1,539 million and $3,429 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2024, compared to $1,151 million and $3,089 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Development

In the fourth quarter of 2024, we opened 171 hotels, totaling 22,600 rooms, resulting in 17,200 net room additions. During the quarter, we continued to expand our portfolio in the Asia Pacific market, surpassing 1,000 hotels in the region. We opened our first hotels in Bonaire and Paraguay and now have properties in 140 countries and territories. We also added several luxury hotels to our pipeline in the Middle East and Africa region during the quarter. With more than 500 luxury hotels worldwide, we look to expand our portfolio in 2025 with the re-opening of the iconic Waldorf Astoria New York, along with the openings of Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique, Waldorf Astoria Shanghai Qiantan, Waldorf Astoria Osaka, Waldorf Astoria Morocco Rabat Sale, Conrad Hamburg and Conrad Athens.

We added 34,200 rooms to the development pipeline during the fourth quarter, and, as of December 31, 2024, our development pipeline totaled 3,578 hotels representing 498,600 rooms throughout 118 countries and territories, including 25 countries and territories where we had no existing hotels. Additionally, of the rooms in the development pipeline, nearly half were under construction and more than half were located outside of the U.S.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of December 31, 2024, we had $11.2 billion of debt outstanding, excluding the deduction for deferred financing costs and discounts, with a weighted average interest rate of 4.77 percent. Excluding all finance lease liabilities, we had $11.1 billion of debt outstanding with a weighted average interest rate of 4.76 percent and no scheduled maturities until April 2027, other than $500 million of outstanding Senior Notes due May 2025. We believe that we have sufficient sources of liquidity and access to debt financing to address the Senior Notes due May 2025 at or prior to their maturity date as well as all indebtedness that becomes due thereafter. As of December 31, 2024, no amounts were outstanding under our $2.0 billion senior secured revolving credit facility, which had an available borrowing capacity of $1,910 million after considering $90 million of outstanding letters of credit. Total cash and cash equivalents were $1,376 million as of December 31, 2024, including $75 million of restricted cash and cash equivalents.

In December 2024, we paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share of common stock, for a total of $37 million, bringing total dividend payments for the year to $150 million. In February 2025, our board of directors authorized a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share of common stock to be paid on March 28, 2025 to holders of record of our common stock as of the close of business on February 21, 2025.

During the three months ended December 31, 2024, we repurchased 3.1 million shares of Hilton common stock at an average price per share of $244.74, for a total of $744 million. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we repurchased 13.3 million shares of Hilton common stock at an average price per share of $215.09, returning $3.0 billion of capital to shareholders, including dividends. In November 2024, our board of directors authorized an additional $3.5 billion for share repurchases under our stock repurchase program. The amount authorized remaining under our stock repurchase program as of December 31, 2024 was approximately $4.4 billion.

The number of shares outstanding as of January 31, 2025 was 240.6 million.

Outlook

Share-based metrics in Hilton's outlook include actual share repurchases through December 31, 2024 but do not include the effect of potential share repurchases thereafter.

Full Year 2025

• System-wide comparable RevPAR, on a currency neutral basis, is projected to increase between 2.0 percent and 3.0 percent compared to 2024.
• Diluted EPS is projected to be between $7.45 and $7.56.
• Diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, is projected to be between $7.71 and $7.82.
• Net income is projected to be between $1,829 million and $1,858 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $3,700 million and $3,740 million.
• Contract acquisition costs and capital expenditures, excluding amounts reimbursed by third parties, are projected to be between $250 million and $300 million.
• Capital return is projected to be approximately $3.3 billion.
• General and administrative expenses are projected to be between $420 million and $430 million.
• Net unit growth is projected to be between 6.0 percent and 7.0 percent.

First Quarter 2025

• System-wide comparable RevPAR, on a currency neutral basis, is projected to increase between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent compared to the first quarter of 2024.
• Diluted EPS is projected to be between $1.52 and $1.58.
• Diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, is projected to be between $1.57 and $1.63.
• Net income is projected to be between $373 million and $388 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $770 million and $790 million.

Conference Call

Hilton will host a conference call to discuss fourth quarter and full year 2024 results on February 6, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Participants may listen to the live webcast by logging on to the Hilton Investor Relations website at https://ir.hilton.com/events-and-presentations. A replay and transcript of the webcast will be available within 24 hours after the live event at https://ir.hilton.com/financial-reporting.

Alternatively, participants may listen to the live call by dialing 1-888-317-6003 in the United States ("U.S.") or 1-412-317-6061 internationally using the conference ID 5030092. Participants are encouraged to dial into the call or link to the webcast at least fifteen minutes prior to the scheduled start time. A telephone replay will be available for seven days following the call. To access the telephone replay, dial 1-877-344-7529 in the U.S. or 1-412-317-0088 internationally using the conference ID 2914259.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to our expectations regarding the performance of our business, future financial results, liquidity and capital resources and other non-historical statements. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "forecasts," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seeks," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties including, among others, risks inherent to the hospitality industry; macroeconomic factors beyond our control, such as inflation, changes in interest rates, challenges due to labor shortages or disputes and supply chain disruptions; the loss of key senior management personnel; competition for hotel guests and management and franchise contracts; risks related to doing business with third-party hotel owners; performance of our information technology systems; growth of reservation channels outside of our system; risks of doing business outside of the U.S.; risks associated with conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East and other geopolitical events; and our indebtedness. Additional factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found under the section entitled "Part I—Item 1A. Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and is accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, which is expected to be filed with the SEC on or about the date of this press release. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this press release and in our filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Definitions

See the "Definitions" section for the definition of certain terms used within this press release, including within the schedules.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We refer to certain financial measures that are not recognized under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") in this press release, including: net income, adjusted for special items; diluted EPS, adjusted for special items; EBITDA; Adjusted EBITDA; Adjusted EBITDA margin; net debt; and net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio. See the schedules to this press release, including the "Definitions" section, for additional information and reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial measures, as well as the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

About Hilton

Hilton (NYSE:HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 24 world-class brands comprising more than 8,400 properties and over 1.25 million rooms, in 140 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its founding vision to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, Hilton has welcomed over 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, was named the No.1 World's Best Workplace by Great Place to Work and Fortune and has been recognized as a global leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. Hilton has introduced industry-leading technology enhancements to improve the guest experience, including Digital Key Share, automated complimentary room upgrades and the ability to book confirmed connecting rooms. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the more than 210 million Hilton Honors members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can't buy. With the free Hilton Honors app, guests can book their stay, select their room, check in, unlock their door with a Digital Key and check out, all from their smartphone. Visit stories.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on facebook.com/hiltonnewsroom, x.com/hiltonnewsroom, linkedin.com/company/hilton, instagram.com/hiltonnewsroom and youtube.com/hiltonnewsroom.