Hilton Delivers Another Record-Setting Year

2016 was an extraordinarily impactful year for Hilton (NYSE:HLT), which achieved record pipeline and net unit growth, accomplished its most successful brand launch with Tru by Hilton and maintained its position as the fastest-growing hospitality company. It also completed the spin-offs of Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations, creating three pure-play businesses that will lead their respective segments with tremendous growth potential.

“For nearly 100 years, one name has stood for hospitality: Hilton. And it’s for this reason that we continue to build on our success and expand at a rapid rate,” said Christopher J. Nassetta, president & CEO, Hilton. “As the result of our spin-offs, Hilton is a more simplified, focused and resilient business, which allows us to offer even more exceptional experiences to our guests, extensive opportunities to our Team Members and premium returns for our hotel owners and shareholders.”

Hilton’s major highlights in 2016 include:

Global Development Highlights

• Held its position as the fastest-growing global hospitality company on an organic net unit growth percentage basis.
• Grew its pipeline to a record of more than 300,000 rooms, with more than one in five hotel rooms under construction globally destined for Hilton brands, which is 4.5 times Hilton’s existing share of global rooms. Four of Hilton’s brands make up the top five brands in the industry under construction globally.
• Approved 106,000 new rooms, started construction on 76,000 rooms and delivered net unit growth of 45,000 rooms, representing 6.6 percent growth of the managed and franchised portfolio.
• Opened nearly one property a day (a total of 354 properties) and expanded its footprint across five new countries (Philippines, Armenia, Montenegro, Estonia and Morocco) for a total of 104 countries and territories.
• Launched its 13th brand – Tru by Hilton – which has become the fastest-growing new brand in company history and we believe the most successful new-build hotel brand in the industry, with nearly 400 deals now signed or in progress.

Enterprise Highlights

• Welcomed 150 million guests to its nearly 4,900 owned, managed and franchised properties.
• Created nearly 20,000 new hotel jobs worldwide as a result of opening managed and franchised properties across its portfolio.
• Grew the HHonors loyalty program by 9 million members for a total of nearly 60 million members, accounting for 55 percent of total room occupancy.
• Named one of the “World’s 25 Best Multinational Workplaces" by Great Place to Work®, as well as one of Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” and Boston Consulting Group’s “Most Innovative Companies.”

Regional Development Highlights

• Americas: For the second consecutive year, Hilton delivered a record number of approvals across the region – signing more than 600 deals, representing approximately 73,000 rooms.
• Europe, Middle East and Africa: Hilton closed the year with almost 100 new approvals (approximately 16,500 rooms) including its first properties in Lithuania, Latvia and Serbia.
• Asia Pacific: Hilton had a record-breaking year for approvals with the signing of nearly 17,000 rooms. Greater China alone also had a banner year with nearly 60 deals (more than 12,000 rooms) signed, including the first two Curio – A Collection by Hilton and Canopy by Hilton hotels. Hampton by Hilton opened seven hotels and signed 30 hotels in China through its partnership with Plateno Hotels Group.

Brand Highlights

• Luxury and Lifestyle: Hilton's luxury and lifestyle portfolio continues to grow. Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts has 26 properties open and 12 new hotels in the pipeline, including the soon-to-open Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and recently signed Waldorf Astoria San Francisco properties and Conrad Hotels & Resorts has 29 properties with the recent openings of the Conrad Manila, Conrad Makkah, Conrad Pune, Conrad Chicago and Conrad Xiamen along with 21 in the pipeline. Canopy by Hilton opened its first hotel, Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik City Center in Iceland, and the brand has an additional 29 properties in the pipeline.
• Full Service: Hilton Hotels & Resorts has one of the largest pipelines of any upper upscale brand. In 2016, the brand opened hotels in strategic markets including Hilton Brooklyn New York, Hilton Cleveland Downtown, Hilton Podgorica Crna Gora in Montenegro, Hilton Bali Resort and Hilton Edinburgh Carlton. Curio – A Collection by Hilton has rapidly grown to more than 30 upper upscale hotels with 7,000 rooms around the globe since its 2014 launch with locations that include some of the world’s most sought-after destinations such as Reichshof Hamburg, Anselmo Buenos Aires and Gran Hotel Montesol Ibiza. DoubleTree by Hilton expanded in key markets including DoubleTree by Hilton London Kingston Upon Thames, DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Fiji and DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Mexico City Santa Fe.
• Focused Service: Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton continued their strong development presence across all regions. Hilton Garden Inn celebrated its 700th hotel opening in Downtown Asheville, N.C. and opened in its 50th state with the Kauai Wailua Bay and Waikiki Beach locations, in addition to opening in six new countries. The largest brand within the portfolio, Hampton by Hilton, successfully entered all 50 states with the opening of the Oahu Kapolei location and continued its rapid international growth, including the opening of the flagship hotel in Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town. Tru by Hiltonlaunched a year ago and now has nearly 400 deals signed or in progress and will open its first hotel in the first half of 2017.
• All Suites: In 2016, Hilton’s All Suites category reinforced its position as an industry leader, celebrating the opening of its 750th property and closing the year with more than 500 hotels in the pipeline. Embassy Suites by Hilton, which has the largest upper upscale new build pipeline in the U.S., announced the upcoming Embassy Suites by Hilton New York Midtown Manhattan and Embassy by Hilton Riyadh King Fahd Road, the brand’s first property in the Middle East. The brand also signed two new hotels in Canada, Embassy Suites by Hilton Montreal Airport and Embassy Suites by Hilton Toronto Airport, and the brand’s first property in Aruba, Embassy Suites by Hilton Aruba Resort. Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton celebrated the opening of their 400th and 100th properties respectively.

Innovation Highlights

• The Hilton HHonors app, the company’s award-winning guest-loyalty program app, has been downloaded more than 3.6 million times (downloaded every 8 seconds) and is the highest rated travel app in the Apple App Store.
• Digital check-in with room selection, the hospitality industry’s first-and-only way for travelers to check in and select the exact room they want, is available worldwide at more that 4,700 hotels and has been used more than 22 million times since it launched in the summer of 2014. It is currently used at a rate of more than one million times per month.
• Hilton guests can now access their rooms through the Hilton HHonors app via Digital Key functionality, currently available in 750 hotels. Hilton will continue to build on this industry-leading capability, with an additional 2,500 hotels around the globe expected to offer the service by the end of 2017.

Great Place to Work Highlights

Earned the following workplace recognitions:

• Great Place to Work® recognized Hilton as one of the World’s 25 Best Multinational Workplaces. Hilton also ranked in all 14 country lists where it was eligible in 2016 including ranking #1 in China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
• Great Place to Work® and Fortune named Hilton as one of the 100 Best Workplaces, Best Workplaces for Women and Best Workplaces for Millennials.
• Led the charge in addressing the challenge of global youth unemployment, by connecting, preparing or employing more than 150,000 young people.
• Achieved its Operation: Opportunity goal two years early, hiring 10,000 U.S. military veterans and their family members in just three years.
• Developed a workplace culture that attracts the best talent by introducing unique benefits such as:
• A best-in-class parental leave policy;
• A best-in-industry adoption assistance program;
• The Go Hilton Team Member travel program, a global, system-wide framework to support travel for Team Members and their family and friends.
• Joined 28 other leading businesses, including Apple, Coca-Cola, Facebook and General Motors, in signing the White House's Equal Pay Pledge.
• Included on Newsweek’s “Top Green Companies in the U.S.” list and Forbes’ “The Just 100: America’s Best Corporate Citizens” list.

*Industry data from STR Global