Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. 2026 Q3 Earnings Call

Welcome to Hilton's third quarter 2026 earnings call. Before we begin, we would like to remind you that our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, and forward-looking statements made today speak only to our expectations as of today. We undertake no obligation to update or revise these statements. For a discussion of some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ, please see the Risk Factors section of our most recently filed Form 10-K. In addition, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call. You can find reconciliations of non-GAAP to GAAP financial measures discussed in today's call in our earnings press release and on our website at ir.hilton.com.

This morning, Chris Nassetta, our President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide an overview of the current operating environment and the company's outlook. Kevin Jacobs, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will then review our third quarter results and discuss our expectations for the fourth quarter and full year. Following the remarks, we will be happy to take your questions. With that, I am pleased to turn the call over to Chris.

Thank you, Charlie, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased to report a strong third quarter with top and bottom-line results exceeding our expectations. Strengthened travel demand, supported by favorable macro trends, is driving RevPAR outperformance, a trend we expect to continue into 2027. We continue to lead the industry with net unit growth at scale, with the third quarter being our largest quarter of organic openings in our history, with very strong momentum heading into the fourth quarter. Our award-winning brands, strong commercial engines, and powerful partnerships continue to further increase industry-leading market share, while a culture of innovation creates additional growth opportunities. Together, these drivers support meaningful free cash flow generation and shareholder returns, and we remain on track to return $3.5 billion to shareholders for the full year. For the third quarter, system-wide RevPAR increased 5.8% year-over-year, with rate and occupancy growth both ahead of expectations.

RevPAR outperformance reflected strength in business and group demand, continued momentum following the World Cup, and favorable calendar and holiday shifts. Globally, business transient RevPAR was up 8.3%, driven by outperformance in the U.S., with continued strength in manufacturing, technology, and workforce lodging that all grew more than 10%. Leisure transient RevPAR was up 1.6% as demand normalized following a strong summer travel period. Group RevPAR was up 8.2%, driven by sequentially stronger demand from the second quarter, continued rate gains, and favorable demand from social events and company meetings. For the full year, we now expect RevPAR growth of 4%-4.5% as business transient momentum carries into the fourth quarter, particularly in the U.S., where supportive policy, increased private sector investment, including AI, and ongoing public infrastructure spending are supporting demand.

In the U.S., we are seeing middle-class real wage growth despite higher inflation, contributing to broad-based strength we have described as a C-shaped economy. We believe we are uniquely positioned to benefit from this demand given our exposure to business travel, especially small and medium-sized companies. Looking beyond 2026, we remain optimistic about the strengthening demand backdrop, particularly given the close correlation between hotel demand in our segments and nonresidential fixed investment, or NRFI. NRFI growth for the past six, and soon to be seven quarters, has been growing nearly two times faster than the average rate over the prior 20 years, providing an unusually strong and durable macroeconomic backdrop for our business. We expect continued growth in GDP and NRFI, together with historically low industry supply growth, to support strong RevPAR growth over the next several years.

Turning to development, we had another robust quarter of openings, adding more than 180 hotels and over 27,000 rooms to our system, our largest quarter ever for rooms added on an organic basis. Our luxury and lifestyle portfolios continue to grow the most quickly across categories, with trailing 12-month net unit growth rates of 11% and 20% respectively. For the quarter, luxury and lifestyle openings comprised approximately 30% of total openings and included Conrad openings in Saudi Arabia and Japan and the debut of Canopy in Thailand, marking our 50th Canopy globally. Our collection brands continue to drive growth with the opening of nearly 20 Tapestry and Curio hotels across nearly all regions. Additionally, we surpassed 3,000 LXR rooms with the brand's debut in India, extending LXR's presence to this fast-growing region.

In the third quarter, we delivered conversion openings across 12 of our 28 brands, including the debut of DoubleTree in Singapore, the debut of Spark in Italy, and the conversion of 10 Select by Hilton hotel properties across four countries. Over the last 12 months, we've converted hotels from almost 60 different brands into our system. Because our brands drive RevPAR index premiums, we believe there is significant opportunity to continue growing through conversions, with Europe being a strong example of that opportunity. Independent non-branded hotels account for approximately 60% of the region's current supply, while Hilton represents just 2% of the region's supply. Across the system, conversions represented 37% of our openings this quarter, a trend we expect to continue as we execute against this opportunity.

In the quarter, we signed approximately 30,000 rooms and are on pace to deliver mid-single-digit growth in signings for the full year, driven by strong signings in EMEA only 9 months into the year. We increased our development pipeline to more than 543,000 rooms, growing both year-over-year and sequentially versus the second quarter, with expansion in strategic markets and across chain scales. The pipeline now includes approximately 250 unique brand country combinations. In the quarter, we announced the signings of debuts of Outset Collection in Spain and of Motto in Japan. We continue to expand Tempo's global footprint with new signings in Switzerland, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and additional U.S. markets. We also announced the signing of our first Signia by Hilton on the Florida Gulf Coast, increasing the brand's pipeline to over 4,000 rooms and further accelerating its momentum.

We are also expanding our presence in the Nordics, where we recently announced the signing of a new Hilton in Copenhagen, the first hotel under a multi-year development agreement with Scandic Hotels Group, the region's largest hotel operator. The agreement creates new opportunities to grow in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, high-value markets that have historically been very difficult to enter while introducing more travelers to our brands and Hilton Honors. System-wide new development construction starts continue to show incredible momentum, up over 40% year-over-year in the quarter, with all regions independently up more than 20%. Nearly half of our pipeline is under construction, and we continue to have more rooms under construction than any other hotel company, accounting for nearly 20% of industry share and 3 and a half times our share of existing supply.

Our disciplined development strategy continues to strengthen Hilton's competitive positions as owners choose to join the system to benefit from the RevPAR premiums our brands deliver and the value of our commercial platform. We expect fourth quarter net unit additions to be above third quarter, delivering around the midpoint of our 6%-7% range for 2026 and continuing to grow 6%-7% annually over the next several years. Globally, Hilton is still less than 6% of supply, providing a long runway for continued growth. As technology continues to reshape every part of our lives and business in unprecedented ways, we believe our ability to connect the physical and digital elements of hospitality will create meaningful opportunities to harness the power of our proprietary technology platform across our business.

In the years to come, we believe technology will become an even greater strategic advantage for Hilton, empowering our team members, strengthening performance for our owners, and making it easier for guests to experience the very best of Hilton. As we continue to further differentiate Hilton's technology from the competition, we recently announced the appointment of Jeff Moore as Chief Technology Officer. Jeff brings more than 2 decades of experience building and scaling consumer logistics and enterprise platforms for some of the world's most recognized brands. We're excited for Jeff to help harness our industry-leading technology platform and to add to our existing talented leadership team. Keeping with this people-led, tech-powered strategy last week, we announced that our listing exchange will move to Nasdaq, providing a platform aligned with our innovation and growth ambitions and positioning Hilton alongside some of the world's most innovative companies.

As we approach the end of 2026, we are pleased to report that we remain on track to deliver against the ranges we laid out for our 2024 Investor Day. Looking ahead, we are more confident than ever in our ability to drive algorithm growth over the next several years. This will be driven by continued net unit growth, new brand growth, RevPAR index gains, and incremental non-RevPAR business opportunities. Making all of this possible is our family of Hilton team members who continue to spread the light and warmth of hospitality in remarkable ways. Their dedication continues to earn global recognition, with Hilton named the number one best workplace by Great Place to Work in 21 countries this year, more than ever before. In addition to recognition as the number one best workplace in several regions, including Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

In fact, just this week, we were named number one on Great Place to Work's inaugural list of best workplaces in the hotel and resorts in the U.S., another meaningful recognition of the culture our team members create every day across all of our hotels. We remain highly optimistic about our business and the opportunities ahead globally in the years to come. Our strong leadership team, technology orientation, and brand-led, network-driven strategy gives us confidence in our ability to continue meeting the evolving needs of travelers and delivering strong returns to owners and shareholders. Now I will turn the call over to Kevin for a few more details on our results for the quarter and our outlook going forward.