Hilton Sees Signs of Pandemic's Pent-Up Demand Moderating in 2023

Hilton Worldwide's earnings report on Thursday was a good news-bad news story.

In good news, the owner of 19 brands, such as Waldorf Astoria and DoubleTree, continued to see a strong hunger for travel through the end of 2022 thanks to a post-pandemic surge in trips. The stock price for the McLean, Virginia-based company surged to a nine-month high in reaction.

But in bad news, the hotel operator predicted that 2023 would bring respectable but more muted growth as the industry will return to a normalized trajectory. The company also reported unusually soft signings for its pipeline of new properties.

Hilton's fourth quarter system-wide revenue per available room — a key industry metric — was $102, the company said. That was 7.5 percent above the level in the comparable period in 2019, making for the second consecutive quarter that the figure surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

"Small and medium-sized businesses remained an important and growing part of our business travel segment, accounting for roughly 85 percent of our segment mix," said Chris Nassetta, president and CEO, in a call with analysts on Thursday.

The company said it sold guest rooms, ballrooms, and all-inclusive resort bookings at higher rates because of booming travel demand.

In the fourth quarter, the hotel operator produced $333 million in net income on $2.44 billion in revenue. For the full year of 2022, the company produced $1.255 in