Data Drives 2024 Growth For Hilton With New Brands, Largest Hotel Pipeline Ever

17.03.2024 - 20:53 / forbes.com

On the heels of the big announcement that Hilton will acquire the boutique Graduate Hotels brand of properties in American college towns, Hilton shows no signs of slowing down. Record growth is fueling the largest pipeline of new hotels in its history, and the hospitality giant is adding new brands to its portfolio to fill gaps where it sees strong potential.

With over 1.1 million hotel rooms, Hilton will see 5.5-6% growth in worldwide rooms, notes Smedes Rose, director, REITs & lodging for Citi.

The hospitality landscape is competitive, and companies must evolve to meet the demands of general consumers as well as their primary customer, the hotel buyer or management company. This was never more evident than during the pandemic when many people not only changed how they travel, but also why and with whom.

During that time, all major brands placed an emphasis on cleanliness, but Hilton used data from its series of annual trend reports to lean into new trends.

“Hilton took over the innovator role,” said Bernadette Molnar, regional director, operations for Davidson Hotels, which operates numerous Hilton hotels under various brands. “In 2020, they were the first to introduce a comprehensive plan with full procedures for cleaning, and supplies were available almost immediately.”

Molnar believes this mentality also led Hilton to see how people were traveling differently and adapt to it. The Homewood Suites by Hilton brand, for example, became the first extended stay hotel group to go pet-friendly at all of its properties in the United States and Canada. Traveling with pets was always important for a subset of travelers, but the pandemic elevated its importance considerably.

Since then, numerous other Hilton brands joined it to become all pet-friendly. They include Canopy by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, Tru by Hilton, Spark by Hilton, LivSmart Studios by Hilton and Home2 Suites.

Select service brands also led the market with people looking for affordable options without extra frills. Hilton doubled down on this segment with its Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton brands while also adding new names to the market.

“Hilton continues to broaden its distribution, especially across the select-service segment of the market, where over 30% of hotels in the U.S. development pipeline are Hilton brands,” said Rose.

Big decisions always rely on hefty research. Hilton’s third-annual global survey used data from “more than 10,000 travelers from nine countries, online video diaries with 60 U.S. travelers” to delve deeper into what drives consumer decisions.

After a record-breaking fourth quarter of 2023, Hilton announced it had opened more rooms than any other quarter in its