Hilton to complete rollout of customer-centric pricing model this summer

A persistent, strong economy and an energized business base in the U.S were two factors in a healthy first quarter for Hilton.

Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta said inbound travel to the U.S. was up 9 percent year over year, and new demand generators and improved conversions resulted in a 20-percent increase in Q1 bookings. Systemwide revenue per available room at grew 3.9 percent in the quarter, driven largely by growth in both the U.S. and abroad. One major surprise was the company’s food-and-beverage growth, which increased 6 percent year over year, outpacing the company’s prior forecasts.

Earlier this month, Hilton repurchased 16.5 million shares of Hilton common stock from HNA for $1.17 billion in connection with HNA's full divestiture of its investment in Hilton

“We’re happy to report a great start of the year, and the results are better than expected,” Nassetta said during a call with analysts.

Given this performance, Nassetta said Hilton is revising its full-year RevPAR guidance to increase between 2 and 4 percent system wide, with the U.S. forecasted to come in toward the lower half of this range while Asia, the Middle East and Africa will be near the high end of the guidance. Hilton’s development goals in 2018 hinge heavily on tapping into growing RevPAR in Asia.

The company’s development pipeline currently sits at 340,000 rooms, with much of them focused in China. Currently, only 4 percent of Hilton’s rooms are located in the country, but 24 percent of its existing pipeline is there, with the majority of these hotels already under construction.