Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc has reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as healthy travel demand helped it boost room prices.
The hotel industry in the United States has thrived in the backdrop of a robust economy, allowing corporations to raise their travel budgets which helped hoteloccupancy rates hit a record high last year.
However, top hotel operators, including Hilton and Marriott, have pointed to a deceleration in revenue growth per room in 2019, as global economic activity slows and trade tensions weigh on corporate capital spending plans.
Growth Outlook And Statistics
Hilton cut its 2019 RevPAR growth outlook to a range of 1% to 3% from an earlier forecast of an increase between 2% and 4%.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key performance metric for the hotel industry, is calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate by its occupancy rate.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 79 cents per share in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2018, beating analysts' estimates of 69 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Revenue rose to $2.29 billion from $2.07 billion.
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