The hotel company lifted its revenue-per-available-room outlook after first-quarter results topped its prior guidance
Hilton Worldwide $HLT Holdings raised its full-year room revenue growth forecast for 2026, projecting system-wide comparable revenue per available room to increase between 2% and 3% on a currency-neutral basis compared to 2025. The previous forecast called for growth of between 1% and 2%, according to Reuters.
Full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance was also revised upward, with the new range set at $8.79 to $8.91 versus the earlier projection of $8.65 to $8.77, Reuters reported.
First-quarter system-wide comparable RevPAR rose 3.6% on a currency-neutral basis compared to the same period in 2025, driven by increases in both occupancy and average daily rate, the company said. Occupancy reached 67.4%, up 1.4 percentage points, while the average daily rate climbed to $157.14, a 1.5% increase. Europe led regional performance with RevPAR up 6.9%, followed by Asia Pacific at 4.7% and the Americas excluding the U.S. at 4.4%. U.S. RevPAR grew 3.4%, while the Middle East and Africa declined 1.7%.
Net income for the quarter was $383 million, up from $300 million in the same period last year. Total revenues reached $2,937 million, compared with $2,695 million in the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $901 million, up from $795 million, with margins expanding to 75.3% from 73.7%.
Hilton also projected full-year net unit growth of between 6% and 7%, backed by a development pipeline that reached 527,000 rooms across 3,768 hotels in 129 countries and territories as of March 31, 2026 — the largest in the company's history, Hilton said. The pipeline grew 5% from a year earlier, with almost half of the rooms under construction and more than half located outside the U.S.
The company returned $860 million to shareholders in the first quarter through share repurchases and dividends, and projected full-year capital return of about $3.5 billion.
For the second quarter of 2026, Hilton projected system-wide comparable RevPAR growth of between 2% and 3% on a currency-neutral basis. The company noted that year-over-year profitability comparisons for the quarter would be affected by one-time fees and favorable timing items from the second quarter of 2025, as well as lower anticipated RevPAR in the Middle East.
"We delivered great top and bottom-line results for the quarter with RevPAR growth across all chain-scales and brands and customer segments," CEO Christopher Nassetta said in a statement. "The results demonstrate a continuation of strengthening demand trends we've seen since late 2025 that are supported by macroeconomic tailwinds most evident in the U.S."
