Skift Take
Vacationers have been Hilton's bread and butter recently, but the hotel giant predicts a full house of the briefcase brigade soon.
Hilton has ridden high on a surging wave of vacationers. But executives at the hotel giant now see the return of corporate trips and conferences as powering the next phase of its growth.
Executives predicted Wednesday that occupancy by corporate road warriors and conference-goers would fully recover to pre-pandemic levels soon.
"By the end of the year from a demand point of view, we think there's an awfully good chance that BT [business travel] will get there, too," said Christopher Nassetta, president and CEO. "Just given continued growth in the big corporates and very resilient SMB [small-and-medium-sized] businesses."
The McLean, Virginia-based owner of more than 20 brands, such as DoubleTree and Waldorf Astoria, said small business travelers are already staying above 2