Rate-Driven Dividends
A Trio Of Hotel Companies See 3Q Gains As RevPAR Continues To Gain Momentum
With strong rates and RevPAR gains driving performance, a trio of publicly traded hotel companies reported improved 3Q results featuring positive year-over-year comparisons and an optimistic outlook for the fourth quarter.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. has reported a net income of $346 million for the third quarter of this year, exceeding the company’s expectations. Some of the highlights include system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 29.9%, on a currency neutral basis, for the third quarter compared to the same period in 2021.
Net income was $346 million for the third quarter, exceeding the high end of guidance while adjusted EBITDA was $732 million for the third quarter, exceeding the high end of guidance.
In addition, full-year 2022 system-wide comparable RevPAR is expected to increase between 40% and 43%, on a currency neutral basis, compared to 2021; full-year net income is projected to be between $1,219 million and $1,240 million; full-year adjusted EBITDA is projected to be between $2,500 million and $2,530 million.
“The third quarter marked an important milestone in our recovery as system-wide RevPAR exceeded the same period in 2019 for the first time since the pandemic began,” said Christopher J. Nassetta, president/CEO, Hilton. “Our diluted EPS, adjusted for special items and adjusted EBITDA exceeded the high end of our guidance. Improved performance reflected the continued strength in leisure travel, as well as recovering business transient and group demand. We expect these strong trends to continue throughout the fourth quarter with system-wide RevPAR once again exceeding prior peaks.
Meanwhile, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, for the three months ended Sept. 30, reported global RevPAR growth of 12% compared to the same period last year. U.S. RevPAR grew 2% compared to the third-quarter 2021 and represents 110% of 2019 levels.
“With our brands delivering record U.S. RevPAR and our global development teams driving net unit growth towards the top end of our initial guidance, we are raising our full-year 2022 outlook,” said Geoff Ballotti, president/CEO. “Despite the broader macro-economic climate, we are confident in the continued resiliency of our franchise model as we continue to invest in the business and generate substantial shareholder returns. This quarter, we grew our development pipeline by 10%, surpassed our full-year development goal for our new extended-stay brand and completed the acquisition of our 23rd brand, Vienna House. We remain committed to a disciplined capital allocation strategy that will deliver outstanding value to our shareholders, guests, franchisees and team members in any environment.”
According to Wyndham, system-wide rooms grew 4% YOY (YOY), including 1% of growth in the U.S. and 9% of growth internationally. Furthermore, the development pipeline grew 10% YOY to 212,000 rooms and U.S. development signings increased 82%, including 48 new-construction projects for the company’s new extended-stay brand, bringing the total number to 120 since launch in March
Hersha Hospitality Trust president and COO Neil Shah said the company’s comparable portfolio recorded average daily rate growth of 16% as nearly all of its markets saw double-digit ADR growth compared to 2019.
During the third quarter, Hersha’s hotels reported 72% occupancy with ADR of $289.75. The company’s comparable portfolio revenue per available room growth of 3.7% in September beat out September 2019 thanks to 16.5% ADR growth compared to the same period. The trend has been accelerating in October with increased business transient demand, with record RevPAR growth of approximately 8% compared to 2019, driven by 20% ADR growth.
The comparable hotel portfolio generated nearly $31 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization during the quarter, an 8% increase from 2019 with an EBITDA margin of 32%, a 249-basis-point increase.
