Hilton third-quarter net income rises to $536 million as RevPAR climbs 5.8%

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (HLT) said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that third-quarter 2026 net income rose to $536 million from $421 million a year earlier. System-wide comparable revenue per available room, or RevPAR, rose 5.8% on a currency-neutral basis. RevPAR is hotel room revenue divided by the room nights available to guests.

Here's how the company did:

• Diluted EPS: $2.37 vs. $1.78 a year earlier
• Diluted EPS, adjusted for special items: $2.45 vs. $2.11
• Total revenues: $3,325 million vs. $3,120 million
• Net income: $536 million vs. $421 million
• Adjusted EBITDA: $1,058 million vs. $976 million

Adjusted earnings per share were $2.45, against $2.11 a year earlier. Special items in the quarter included a loss from the deconsolidation of a subsidiary that had leased a hotel.

Total revenues were $3,325 million, including $1,967 million of cost reimbursement revenues. The company said it does not operate those programs to generate a profit.

Adjusted EBITDA, which excludes interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and other items, was $1,058 million, up from $976 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 77.0%, compared with 75.2%.

Management and franchise fee revenues rose 9.5% from the same period a year earlier.

Here's how other Hilton segments did during the quarter:

• Franchise and licensing fees: $815 million vs. $739 million
• Base and other management fees: $96 million vs. $93 million
• Incentive management fees: $71 million vs. $65 million
• Ownership revenues: $304 million vs. $322 million

System-wide occupancy was 75.8%, up 1.4 percentage points. Average daily rate, or ADR, the average price of rooms sold, was $164.57, up 3.9%. System-wide RevPAR was $124.70.

By region, RevPAR rose 7.0% in the U.S. and 6.5% in Europe. It fell 5.6% in the Middle East & Africa and 0.5% in Asia Pacific. Among brands, LXR Hotels & Resorts RevPAR rose 14.3%, and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts rose 13.9%.

For the nine months, comparable RevPAR rose 4.7%. Net income was $1,401 million, up from $1,163 million, and Adjusted EBITDA was $3,013 million, up from $2,779 million. Diluted EPS was $6.13, against $4.84, and adjusted diluted EPS was $6.75, against $6.03.

The company said it opened 182 hotels with 27,000 rooms in the quarter, resulting in 23,000 net additional rooms. It approved 30,500 rooms for development during the quarter.

As of Sept. 30, the development pipeline totaled 543,100 rooms across 3,869 hotels in 135 countries and territories, up 5% from a year earlier.

President & Chief Executive Officer Christopher J. Nassetta said the company "achieved our highest quarter ever for organic openings, and the continued quarterly sequential increases give us confidence in delivering net unit growth around the midpoint of our 6.0% to 7.0% full-year guidance range."

As of Sept. 30, Hilton had $13.5 billion of debt outstanding, at a weighted average interest rate of 5.09%. Net debt was $12,623 million, a net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio of 3.2.

The company had $600 million of Senior Notes due April 2027 outstanding. It said it believes it has sufficient liquidity to address them at or before maturity.

No borrowings were outstanding under its senior secured revolving credit facility, which had $1,894 million of available capacity after $106 million of letters of credit. Cash and cash equivalents were $830 million, including $56 million of restricted cash.

In the quarter, Hilton repurchased 2.6 million shares at an average price of $320.05, for $845 million. Including dividends, capital return was $879 million for the quarter and $2,902 million year to date through October.

For the nine months, the company repurchased 8.2 million shares at an average price of $316.36, returning $2,705 million including dividends.

In October, the board authorized a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.15 per share, payable Dec. 29, 2026, to holders of record on Dec. 1, 2026. The company paid the same $0.15 in September. Shares outstanding as of Oct. 22 were 222.5 million.

For full-year 2026, the company projects system-wide comparable RevPAR to rise 4.0% to 4.5%, net income of $1,909 million to $1,923 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $4,060 million to $4,080 million. The Adjusted EBITDA projection incorporates lower Middle East performance and timeshare license fees than in prior guidance.

Full-year diluted EPS is projected at $8.38 to $8.44, and adjusted diluted EPS at $9.07 to $9.13. Per-share projections do not include repurchases made after Sept. 30.

For the fourth quarter, the company projects RevPAR to rise 3.0% to 3.5%, diluted EPS of $2.25 to $2.31, and Adjusted EBITDA of $1,047 million to $1,067 million. Third-quarter results benefited from the World Cup and favorable calendar and holiday shifts. The fourth quarter is expected to be affected by midterm elections and increased impact from the Middle East.

The company also projects capital return of approximately $3.5 billion and general and administrative expenses of approximately $400 million for 2026.

Hilton announced Jeff Moore as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. On Oct. 20, the company also said it will transfer its stock listing to Nasdaq under the existing ticker HLT, effective Nov. 5, 2026, and that no shareholder action is required.