Released its second quarter of 2024 earnings report, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. shows modest increase in the Asia Pacific (APAC) area among efforts at worldwide expansion. Strong performance in Japan, India, and Southeast Asia helped APAC’s Hilton announce a 0.9% year-over-year RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) increase.
Rising intra-regional travel and domestic tourism helped Alan Watts, President of Asia Pacific at Hilton, explain this development. With 36 fresh hotels opened during the quarter, the company’s APAC growth kept accelerating and the total in the area is 837. Currently with a record 1,021 properties under development for the APAC, Hilton wants to have 1,000 operational hotels there by 2025.
Among Hilton’s markets in Q2 2024, APAC displayed the lowest RevPAR increase despite strong expansion. Leading with a 10.7% year-over-year increase was the Middle East and Africa (MEA), followed by Europe at 6.7%, the Americas ( except US) at 6.5%, and the US at 2.9%. APAC reported the lowest occupancy rates as well, rising by 0.8% point to get 69.5%. By contrast, Europe and MEA saw occupancy rates grow by 2.4% respectively, reaching 77.4% and 68.3% each. The US climbed by 1.1% to 76.8%; the Americas (apart from the US) saw a 1.7% point rise to 71.2%.
Financially, Hilton said for Q2 2024 a worldwide net income of $422 million, up 2.1% from last year. After adjusting for unusual items, the company’s diluted earnings per share came out to be $1.91, a 17.1% year over-year rise. For the whole year 2024, Hilton forecasts a 2% to 3% year-over-year gain in system-wide RevPAR. The company hopes for its annual net income to fall between $1.53 billion and $1.55 billion. These numbers highlight Hilton’s continuous expansion and positive attitude in spite of different local performance.