During the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call with investors, Hilton President and CEO Christopher Nassetta noted plans to grow the brand portfolio. Echoing his January comments, he said the growth would likely be organic.
“The things that I think are most imminent are another lifestyle brand in between Motto and Canopy,” he said, imagining something in the “upper-midscale, lower upper-upscale segment. We think there's a huge [total addressable market] for that.”
He also addressed the as-yet unofficial Undergraduate brand, which he had referenced in January, and said the brand could be formally announced within the next 60 days. The pipeline for the Graduate brand, which Hilton acquired in 2024, is “building really well,” he said, but there are “hundreds and hundreds” of markets in the U.S. alone that would not fit the upper-upscale parent brand and need something in the midscale space. “They like the theme and the idea of Graduate—the ethos of the brand. … We want to give all those college towns the same opportunity to have a really great Graduate approach, and Undergraduate, we think, is a fabulous way to do that.”
The Numbers
For the three months that ended Dec. 31, systemwide comparable RevPAR increased 0.5 percent compared to the same period in 2024 due to an increase in average daily rate, which the company said was “partially offset by modest occupancy declines.”
For the year, systemwide comparable RevPAR increased 0.4 percent compared to the same period in 2024 due to an increase in ADR. In contrast, a year ago, the company expected its systemwide comparable 2025 RevPAR to increase between 2 percent and 3 percent compared to 2024. Nassetta said that strong international performance and solid group demand were offset by softer U.S. government demand and weaker international inbound into the U.S. throughout the year.
Fourth-quarter comparable U.S. RevPAR decreased 1.6, which CFO Kevin Jacobs was largely driven by pressure across business transient and groups, which underperformed expectations due to the prolonged government shutdown.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was $946 million for the fourth quarter and $3.72 billion for the full year. Net income was $298 million for the fourth quarter and $1.46 billion for the full year. In comparison, for the fourth quarter of 2024, net income and adjusted EBITDA were $505 million and $858 million, respectively.
Development
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Hilton opened 190 hotels, totaling 26,000 rooms, resulting in 21,300 net room additions. For the full year—the biggest yet for organic openings, Nassetta said—the company opened 97,000 guestrooms, contributing to net unit growth of 6.7 percent from the prior year. Among the notable openings, the company introduced its first Outset Collection by Hilton hotels with the openings of the Slackline Moab and ACME Hotel Chicago.
“Our luxury and lifestyle brands continue to expand around the world, comprising nearly 30 percent of our total openings in the quarter,” Nassetta said. “Lifestyle had a strong year, with all eight brands reaching record room counts, and nearly all expanding their presence into new markets.”
In January, the company announced the launch of the new Apartment Collection by Hilton brand, which will initially add as many as 3,000 incremental units to Hilton’s base of apartment-style units. Bookings are slated to begin in the first half of 2026.
Hilton added 37,400 rooms to the development pipeline during the fourth quarter, and, as of Dec. 31, its development pipeline grew 4 percent to 3,703 hotels with a record 520,500 rooms throughout 129 countries and territories, including 26 countries and territories where the company had no existing hotels. Additionally, of the rooms in the development pipeline, almost half were under construction and more than half were located outside of the U.S.
“We continue to have more rooms under construction than any other hotel company, with approximately one in every five hotel rooms under construction globally slated to join the Hilton portfolio,” Jacobs said.
Guidance
Nassetta said he feels “optimistic” that 2026 will be stronger than 2025. The year’s growth, he said, will be driven by continued strength in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region; improvement in the Asia Pacific region; and an improvement in the U.S. driven by “stronger economic conditions, major events, easier comps and continued limited supply.”
Domestically, Nassetta said he believes that rates will continue to come down, “which will be stimulative and positive in a bunch of ways.” The current administration, he said, has created “a very big deregulatory environment ... which is obviously, I think, a real positive in a bunch of different ways.”
Full-year 2026 systemwide RevPAR is projected to increase between 1 percent and 2 percent on a comparable and currency-neutral basis compared to 2025. Full-year net income is projected to be between $1.98 billion and $2.01 billion. Full-year adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $4 billion and $4.04 billion.
“For full-year 2026, we expect U.S. RevPAR growth towards the low end of our 2026 systemwide guidance,” Jacobs said.
Net unit growth for 2026 is expected to be between 6 percent and 7 percent. “We expect new development construction starts to be up over 20 percent, bringing us back close to 2019 levels [and] signaling healthy developer appetite,” he said.
For the first quarter of 2026, systemwide comparable RevPAR, on a currency neutral basis, is projected to increase between 1 percent and 2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2025. Net income is projected to be between $436 million and $450 million, and adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $875 million and $895 million.