Hilton Revenues Double for Fourth Quarter 2021

Hilton Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HLT) today reported its fourth quarter and full year 2021 results. The following results reflect the material impact that the coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic has had on Hilton's business. Highlights include:

• Diluted EPS was $0.52 for the fourth quarter and $1.46 for the full year, and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $0.72 for the fourth quarter and $2.08 for the full year

• Net income was $148 million for the fourth quarter and $407 million for the full year

• Adjusted EBITDA was $512 million for the fourth quarter and $1,629 million for the full year

• System-wide comparable RevPAR increased 104.2 percent and 60.4 percent, on a currency neutral basis, for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively, from the same periods in 2020

• System-wide comparable RevPAR was down 13.5 percent and 30.0 percent, on a currency neutral basis, for the fourth quarter and full year, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2019

• Approved 26,000 new rooms for development during the fourth quarter, bringing Hilton's development pipeline to 408,000 rooms as of December 31, 2021

• Added 16,100 rooms to Hilton's system in the fourth quarter, contributing to 55,100 net additional rooms in Hilton's system for the full year, which represented 5.6 percent net unit growth from December 31, 2020

• Full year 2022 net unit growth is expected to be approximately 5 percent

Overview

Christopher J. Nassetta, President & Chief Executive Officer of Hilton, said, "We were pleased to see continued recovery throughout 2021, with our fourth quarter showing strong results versus 2019. Although new variants of the virus have had some short-term impact, we are optimistic about the acceleration of recovery across all segments during 2022. We remain confident in the future of our business and our ability to continue to drive strong net unit growth and free cash flow, fueled by higher margins."

During the three months and year ended December 31, 2021, while the COVID-19 pandemic continued to negatively impact Hilton's business and hotel operating statistics, Hilton experienced significant improvement in its results compared to 2020 attributable to increased travel and tourism. As a result of the pandemic, certain hotels suspended operations at various times throughout 2020, but the majority of those hotels were reopened by the beginning of 2021. In line with the recovery, although some hotels did suspend operations during the year ended December 31, 2021, reopenings significantly outpaced suspensions. As such, the operations of only approximately 360 hotels, primarily located in the U.S. and Europe, were suspended for some period of time during the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to approximately 1,280 hotels during the year ended December 31, 2020. Nearly all of the hotels that suspended operations at some point since the start of the pandemic had reopened as of December 31, 2021.

For the three months and year ended December 31, 2021, system-wide comparable RevPAR increased 104.2 percent and 60.4 percent, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2020, due to increases in both occupancy and ADR. For the three months and year ended December 31, 2021, fee revenues increased 91 percent and 60 percent, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2020. For comparison to pre-pandemic results, system-wide comparable RevPAR for the three months and year ended December 31, 2021 were down 13.5 percent and 30.0 percent, respectively, compared to the three months and year ended December 31, 2019.

For the three months ended December 31, 2021, diluted EPS was $0.52 and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $0.72 compared to $(0.81) and $(0.10), respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2020. Net income (loss) and Adjusted EBITDA were $148 million and $512 million, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2021, compared to $(225) million and $204 million, respectively, for the three months ended December 31, 2020.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, diluted EPS was $1.46 and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, was $2.08 compared to $(2.58) and $0.10, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2020. Net income (loss) and Adjusted EBITDA were $407 million and $1,629 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $(720) million and $842 million, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Development

In the fourth quarter of 2021, Hilton opened 94 new hotels totaling 16,100 rooms and achieved net unit growth of 13,100 rooms. During the full year 2021, Hilton opened 414 new hotels totaling 67,100 rooms and achieved net unit growth of 55,100 rooms. During the quarter, Hilton continued the expansion of its luxury portfolio with the openings of the Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya in Mexico and the Conrad Jiuzhaigou in China and also opened the Hilton Cancun in Mexico, the latest addition to Hilton's rapidly expanding portfolio of all-inclusive properties. Further, Hilton continues to see growth in its focused service brands, with Hampton by Hilton opening over 30 hotels representing 4,300 rooms during the fourth quarter.

As of December 31, 2021, Hilton's development pipeline totaled nearly 2,670 hotels representing nearly 408,000 rooms throughout 115 countries and territories, including 28 countries and territories where Hilton does not currently have any existing hotels. Additionally, of the rooms in the development pipeline, 198,000 of the rooms were under construction and 249,600 of the rooms were located outside the U.S.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of December 31, 2021, Hilton had $8.9 billion of long-term debt outstanding, excluding deferred financing costs and discount, with a weighted average interest rate of 3.99 percent. Excluding finance lease liabilities and other debt of Hilton's consolidated variable interest entities, Hilton had $8.6 billion of long-term debt outstanding with a weighted average interest rate of 3.95 percent and no scheduled maturities until 2025. No amounts were outstanding under Hilton's $1.75 billion senior secured revolving credit facility as of December 31, 2021, which had an available borrowing capacity of $1,690 million after considering $60 million of outstanding letters of credit. Total cash and cash equivalents were $1,512 million as of December 31, 2021, including $85 million of restricted cash and cash equivalents.

About Hilton

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 18 world-class brands comprising more than 6,800 properties and more than 1 million rooms in 122 countries and territories.

HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS INC.

DEFINITIONS

Net Income (Loss), Adjusted for Special Items, and Diluted EPS, Adjusted for Special Items

Net income (loss), adjusted for special items, and diluted earnings (loss) per share ("EPS"), adjusted for special items, are not recognized terms under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to net income (loss) or other measures of financial performance or liquidity derived in accordance with GAAP. In addition, the Company's definition of net income (loss), adjusted for special items, and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Net income (loss), adjusted for special items, and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items, are included to assist investors in performing meaningful comparisons of past, present and future operating results and as a means of highlighting the results of the Company's ongoing operations.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin

EBITDA, presented herein, reflects net income (loss), excluding interest expense, a provision for income tax benefit (expense) and depreciation and amortization expenses. Adjusted EBITDA, presented herein, is calculated as EBITDA, as previously defined, further adjusted to exclude certain items, including gains, losses, revenues and expenses in connection with: (i) asset dispositions for both consolidated and unconsolidated equity investments; (ii) foreign currency transactions; (iii) debt restructurings and retirements; (iv) furniture, fixtures and equipment ("FF&E") replacement reserves required under certain lease agreements; (v) share-based compensation; (vi) reorganization, severance, relocation and other expenses; (vii) non-cash impairment; (viii) amortization of contract acquisition costs; (ix) the net effect of reimbursable costs included in other revenues and other expenses from managed and franchised properties; and (x) other items.

Adjusted EBITDA margin represents Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of total revenues, adjusted to exclude the amortization of contract acquisition costs and other revenues from managed and franchised properties.

The Company believes that EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin provide useful information to investors about the Company's financial condition and results of operations for the following reasons: (i) these measures are among the measures used by the Company's management team to evaluate its operating performance and make day-to-day operating decisions and (ii) these measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties as a common performance measure to compare results or estimate valuations across companies in the industry. Additionally, these measures exclude certain items that can vary widely across different industries and among competitors within the Company's industry. For instance, interest expense and income taxes are dependent on company specifics, including, among other things, capital structure and operating jurisdictions, respectively, and, therefore, could vary significantly across companies. Depreciation and amortization expenses, as well as amortization of contract acquisition costs, are dependent upon company policies, including the method of acquiring and depreciating assets and the useful lives that are used. For Adjusted EBITDA, the Company also excludes items such as: (i) FF&E replacement reserves for leased hotels to be consistent with the treatment of capital expenditures for property and equipment, where payments for such capitalized assets are depreciated over their useful lives; (ii) share-based compensation, as this could vary widely among companies due to the different plans in place and the usage of them; (iii) the net effect of the Company's cost reimbursement revenues and reimbursed expenses, as the Company contractually does not operate the related programs to generate a profit over the terms of the respective contracts; and (iv) other items, such as amounts related to debt restructurings and debt retirements and reorganization and related severance costs, that are not core to the Company's operations and are not reflective of the Company's operating performance.

EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are not recognized terms under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives, either in isolation or as a substitute, for net income (loss) or other measures of financial performance or liquidity, including cash flows, derived in accordance with GAAP. Further, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin have limitations as analytical tools, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies and should not be considered as other methods of analyzing the Company's results as reported under GAAP.

Net Debt and Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA Ratio

Net debt and net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio, presented herein, are non-GAAP financial measures that the Company uses to evaluate its financial leverage. Net debt is calculated as: (i) long-term debt, including current maturities and excluding unamortized deferred financing costs and discount, and (ii) the Company's share of unconsolidated affiliate debt; reduced by: (a) cash and cash equivalents and (b) restricted cash and cash equivalents.

Net debt should not be considered as a substitute to debt presented in accordance with GAAP, and net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio should not be considered as an alternative to measures of financial condition derived in accordance with GAAP. Net debt and net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. The Company believes net debt and net debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio provide useful information about its indebtedness to investors as they are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties to compare the indebtedness between companies.

Comparable Hotels

The Company defines comparable hotels as those that: (i) were active and operating in the Company's system for at least one full calendar year as of the end of the current period, and open January 1st of the previous year; (ii) have not undergone a change in brand or ownership type during the current or comparable periods reported; and (iii) have not sustained substantial property damage, business interruption, undergone large-scale capital projects or for which comparable results were not available. Of the 6,777 hotels in the Company's system as of December 31, 2021, 5,524 hotels were classified as comparable hotels. The 1,253 non-comparable hotels included 70 hotels, or approximately one percent of the total hotels in the Company's system, that were removed from the comparable group during the last twelve months because they sustained substantial property damage, business interruption, underwent large-scale capital projects or comparable results were otherwise not available.

When considering business interruption in the context of the Company's definition of comparable hotels, no hotel that had completely or partially suspended operations on a temporary basis at any time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic was excluded from the definition of comparable hotels on that basis alone. Despite these temporary suspensions of hotel operations, the Company believes that including these hotels within the hotel operating statistics of occupancy, average daily rate ("ADR") and revenue per available room ("RevPAR"), if they would have otherwise been included, reflects the underlying results of the business for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.

Occupancy

Occupancy represents the total number of room nights sold divided by the total number of room nights available at a hotel or group of hotels for a given period. Occupancy measures the utilization of the hotels' available capacity. Management uses occupancy to gauge demand at a specific hotel or group of hotels in a given period. Occupancy levels also help management determine achievable ADR pricing levels as demand for hotel rooms increases or decreases.

ADR

ADR represents hotel room revenue divided by the total number of room nights sold for a given period. ADR measures the average room price attained by a hotel, and ADR trends provide useful information concerning the pricing environment and the nature of the customer base of a hotel or group of hotels. ADR is a commonly used performance measure in the industry, and management uses ADR to assess pricing levels that the Company is able to generate by type of customer, as changes in rates charged to customers have different effects on overall revenues and incremental profitability than changes in occupancy, as described above.

RevPAR

RevPAR is calculated by dividing hotel room revenue by the total number of room nights available to guests for a given period. Management considers RevPAR to be a meaningful indicator of the Company's performance as it provides a metric correlated to two primary and key drivers of operations at a hotel or group of hotels, as previously described: occupancy and ADR. RevPAR is also a useful indicator in measuring performance over comparable periods for comparable hotels.

References to occupancy, ADR and RevPAR throughout this press release are presented on a comparable basis, based on the comparable hotels as of December 31, 2021, and references to ADR and RevPAR are presented on a currency neutral basis, unless otherwise noted. As such, comparisons of these hotel operating statistics for the three months and years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 or 2019 use the foreign currency exchange rates used to translate the results of the Company's foreign operations within its financial statements for the three months and year ended December 31, 2021, respectively.