Hilton's Brand Prowess Continues to Attract Travelers and Third-Party Owners

Hilton’s strong upper scale and luxury presence are strengthening its brand intangible asset, one of the sources of its wide moat. The firm is set to expand by several hundred hotels with its February 2024 Small Luxury Hotels partnership and its April 2024 acquisition of a majority interest in the Nomad brand. Hilton's emerging midscale brand (Spark by Hilton, launched in 2023); its extended-stay offering that it also launched in 2023 (LivSmart Studios); and the acquisition of Graduate Hotels, scheduled to close in second-quarter 2024, all support its pricing prowess. In fact, both Hilton's premium economy/midscale brand Spark and extended-stay concept LivSmart already have a few hundred partners in negotiations to join the company's portfolio. Long term, Spark has the potential to reach a few thousand units, offering an attractive unit growth catalyst for the company.