Hilton Boosts Full-Year Forecast After Solid First Quarter

Hilton Worldwide Holdings announced its first quarter 2023 results on Wednesday and raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast as the company bets on pent-up demand to boost earnings.

Hilton officials said demand for travel and prices continued to climb to start the year, while data showed people are booking longer vacations despite economic uncertainties. In total, net income was $209 million for the first quarter.

With adjusted EBITDA reaching $641 million, system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 30 percent compared to the same quarter in 2022 and eight percent compared to pre-pandemic totals.

During the first quarter, the hotel giant approved 24,900 new rooms for development, bringing Hilton’s pipeline to 428,100 rooms as of March 31. The company also added 9,200 rooms to its system.

“We carried strong momentum into 2023, exceeding the high end of our guidance for system-wide RevPAR, driving strong bottom-line results and delivering meaningful free cash flow available for return to our shareholders,” Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said.

“As a result of our strong performance and positive outlook, we are raising our Adjusted EBITDA guidance for the full year,” Nassetta continued.

As for the updated full-year projections for 2023, system-wide RevPAR is expected to increase between 8-11 percent compared to 2022, net income is projected to be between $1,331-$1,385 million and adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $2,875-$2,950 million.

Full-year capital return is projected to be between $1.8 billion and $2.2 billion.