Hotel Growth Race: Hilton and Hyatt Are Opening Properties Fastest
Skift Take
Key Points
- Hilton and Hyatt are leading in property and room count growth over the past five years.
- Hilton opened its 8,000th property, while Hyatt had the highest growth rate from a smaller base.
- Room counts provide a different perspective on growth, with Hilton showing strong increases.
Summary
The article discusses the rapid growth of Hilton and Hyatt in the hotel industry, highlighting their significant increases in property and room counts over the past five years. Hilton has opened its 8,000th property, while Hyatt has shown the largest growth rate in both property and room counts, although from a smaller base. The article also compares different hotel groups' growth rates and room counts, noting that Hilton and Marriott have continued to expand rapidly, with Hilton showing a particularly strong increase in room count growth.
On August 16, Marriott International opened its 9,000th property, with the debut of The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort in Florida. Meanwhile, Hilton Worldwide said Friday it had opened its 8,000th property.
Skift decided to put these hotel development milestones into perspective. What have been the long-term growth trends among the major hotel groups?
Hotel Counts, Mid-2019 to Mid-2024
| Hotel Group | Property Count Mid-2019 | Property Count Mid-2024 | Compound Annual Growth Rate Over 5 Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wyndham | 9,186 | 9,200 | 0.3% |
| Marriott | 7,100 | 9,000 | 4.9% |
| Hilton | 5,900 | 8,000 | 6.3% |
| Choice | 7,045 | 7,486 | 1.2% |
| Accor | 4,946 | 7,045 | 7.3% |
| IHG | 5,600 | 6,430 | 2.8% |
| Hyatt | 881 | 1,352 | 8.9% |
The big picture: Hilton has sustained the most rapid growth pace in property count among its peers in the past five years, though smaller Accor has made notable gains.
Hyatt had the biggest growth spurt of the public hotel groups, but that was a rise from a significantly smaller base.
Room Counts, Mid-2019 to Mid-2024
Property counts don’t give a full picture. Comparing room counts helps, too. Some hotel groups have mostly select-service properties, which can attract customers in more places than full-service hotels and thus boost overall room counts.
| Hotel Group | Room Count Mid-2019 | Room Count Mid-2024 | Compound Annual Growth Rate Over 5 Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marriott | 1,345,906 | 1,659,000 | 4.2% |
| Hilton | 939,000 | 1,200,000 | 5.0% |
| IHG | 856,000 | 955,000 | 2.2% |
| Wyndham | 816,600 | 885,000 | 1.6% |
| Choice Hotels | 572,659 | 631,063 | 2.0% |
| Accor | 726,000 | 838,722 | 2.9% |
| Hyatt | 215,850 | 325,507 | 8.5% |
The big picture: By room count, Hilton has shown strong hotel development growth over the past five years compared with its peers.
Hyatt was the largest gainer by room count but started from a smaller base than its rivals.
The long-term view: Rankings shift over time. Today’s numbers are a snapshot of a moment. It’s hard to believe that IHG could tout in 2011 it was the largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG has since fallen behind to third place in the rankings.
What’s Next
- Hilton has recently picked up its pace of hotel count growth. In a little over two years, it went from 7,000 to 8,000 hotels, representing a roughly 7% a year growth rate in property count.
- Marriott went from 8,000 to 9,000 hotels over two-and-a-half years, representing a pace of hotel count growth of about 5%.
- As for room counts, Hilton has said it’s on track for roughly 7% to 7.5% growth this year.
CORRECTION: An earlier version misstated Marriott’s global property count growth rate. We updated the article to reflect Hilton’s faster pace.
Photo Credit: The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort in Florida Marriott International
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