Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc (NYSE:HLT) has raised its 2023 full-year guidance after delivering a stronger-than-expected second-quarter performance as it opened more hotels, including Conrad Shenzhen, its first luxury property in China's technology hub.
The hotel group added 14,000 rooms to its system over the three months to June 30, 2023, resulting in 11,200 net additional rooms during the period.
It also approved 36,000 new rooms for development during the quarter, bringing its total development to 440,900 rooms, up 7% from a year earlier.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR), on a currency-neutral basis, increased by 12.1% from a year earlier and was 9.3% higher than in 2019 before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adjusted earnings per share rose 26% to $1.63, topping the $1.57 consensus estimate of analysts, according to Zacks Investment Research.
"System-wide comparable RevPAR continued to expand throughout the quarter, experiencing growth across all of our customer segments and regions, driven by strong preference for our brands,” president and CEO Christopher Nassetta said in a statement.
“Our top-line performance yielded meaningful bottom line results, as we exceeded the high end of our guidance for adjusted EBITDA and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items. We continue to drive long-term growth of our global network through the launch of strategic, new brands and have already added over 60,000 rooms to our development pipeline during 2023.”
The company now expects full-year system-wide comparable RevPAR, on a currency-neutral basis, to increase between 10% and 12% compared to 2022. It is projecting adjusted diluted EPS of $5.93 to $6.06.
Its shares fell 0.8% to $149.99 in pre-market trade.
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