‘Now that negotiations are going on, and it’s becoming more real — at least in London — it does feel like there’s a little bit of trepidation,” Christopher Nassetta, chief executive officer of Hilton, said in an interview in Berlin. “That’s showing up in the numbers.”
As the CEO of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., Nassetta is the lead executive of the second largest company in the global industry by rooms. Despite these comments, Hilton’s hotel business within the United Kingdom is still continuing to grow, though it is not at as fast of a rate as it was once growing, Nassetta has said, adding also that it is difficult business to pin a slowing of growth on any one specific reason. He also noted that other parts of Europe have been picking up some of the slack for the slowing of the growth within the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Hilton’s company revenue per available room that derives from its Euro hotels actually managed to rise by 6.6 percent last year. That’s a pretty significant lift, considering that it makes this the second best performing region for Hilton behind the vaunted Asia Pacific region.
When it comes to Hilton in the United Kingdom, it’s important to note that perhaps the company’s best known hotels in that country are London properties, including the world-famous Waldorf and the Hilton that is located on Park Lane.
After the Brexit vote lowered the value of the United Kingdom’s currency, there was a subsequent surge in international tourism. This particular surge pushed occupancy rates in the United Kingdom to peak levels in 2017.
However, the impact of that has begun to fade and hotel owners and operators are starting to feel the results. As that continues to fade, experts note, so too does the potential for heavy year over year growth, at least in comparison with previously high performance values.
It, of course, remains to be seen whether the minor caution being voiced by Hilton turns out to be a harbinger for coming struggles, or whether the market will soon get itself to a place where major hotel companies don’t have to worry so much about their fortunes within the U.K.
Hilton London at Park Lane
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