Hilton Worldwide delivered a strong final quarter to 2025, with earnings per share at USD1.27 and a net income of USD298 million.
The financial performance came despite a modest increase of 0.5% in revpar across the group’s global portfolio. This figure was due in large part to a decline of 1.6% in revpar at American hotels, as both occupancy and the room rate fell. Fortunately, hotels in other parts of the portfolio offset this, with hotels in Middle East and Africa the standout performers. There, occupancy improved allowing managers to push room rates up 11.8%, leading to revpar growth of 15.9%.
Enjoying an Uplift from Luxury
As with other major hotel groups at this time, it was luxury brands that delivered strong returns. Revpar was up 27.4% at Hilton’s LXR brand, and up 12.1% at its Waldorf Astoria properties. In contrast, lower chain scale brands such as Tru, Hampton and Homewood Suites all reported negative revpar for the last quarter.
Hilton chief executive officer Chris Nassetta, traditionally among the more bullish of the hotel CEO’s, again sees a silver lining despite the current economic challenges caused by the latest moves of the US administration. He commented: “As we look ahead to 2026, we are increasingly optimistic about the tailwinds building, including improving demand patterns, driven by broader macroeconomic growth and major global and domestic events, which, when paired with limited supply growth, should result in stronger revpar performance.”
During late 2025, Hilton introduced a new brand, the Outset Collection, launching its first signings, the Slackline Moab and ACME Hotel Chicago. In early 2026, it followed up with Apartment Collection by Hilton, launched via a partnership with Placemakr that will quickly see around 3,000 apartments across the USA become available via the Hilton platform.
Hilton CEO Nassetta said there would be more brands coming, commenting: “The things that I think are most imminent are another lifestyle brand in between Motto and Canopy,” which would be positioned in the upper-midscale, or lower upper-upscale segment.
New Brands Promised
Also teased is a brand named Undergraduate. This would be a sister brand to Graduate, which Hilton acquired in 2024 and is growing across the US and Europe. This could fit in a market segment below Graduate, and could fill into markets such as smaller college towns that might not have the scale to support a full Graduate hotel.
Conversions accounted for close to 40% of Hilton’s openings during 2025, a trend that seems likely to continue. In the last quarter of the year, Hilton opened 190 hotels, of which around nearly 30% were luxury and lifestyle segment properties. There were a total of 26,000 rooms added, while around 4,700 rooms exited Hilton brands, leaving a net 21,300 of rooms growth.
