Everything happening globally from a macroeconomic and geopolitical point of view has made India an even better story, said Christopher J Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, in an exclusive interview with ET.
Hilton had 10,235 trading and in pipeline rooms, and 61 trading and in pipeline hotels in India as of quarter one 2025. The chain is forecasting a 10x growth in its India portfolio over the next decade. The pace of expansion in India would be the fastest among all major markets, said Nassetta.
"Two years ago, I said (to ET in an interview) that India is the best market with the best opportunities on earth and I think it has only gotten better since then. Whether it is people continuing to move manufacturing and supply chains to India or just the basic continued strength in demographic trends," said Nassetta.
"The size of the population, the middle-class growth, the demand supply patterns, and the age of the population. The underlying fundamentals are all super strong for India. I would be very surprised if India is not our third biggest market over the next ten years. It ultimately has the potential to become our second biggest market after the US, but that will take longer," said Nassetta.
Globally, Hilton had 8,602 trading hotels and 3,600 in pipeline hotels as of Q1 2025.
The chain is planning to bring several brands to India.
These include Hilton's luxury brand LXR Hotels & Resorts, the Waldorf Astoria, Signia by Hilton, Slohh by Roach, and Curio Collection by Hilton. The emphasis is on building a network effect in the country across all segments and price points and the chain's focused service brands should see the maximum growth in the country over the coming years, said Nassetta.
"Markets have their ups and downs, but over a long span of time, you will have decades and decades of very strong positive growth in India. We have more hotels than all of India in some cities and that shows how big the opportunity is here. The demographics will continue to drive fabulous demand and the capacity is quite limited," he said. "While we will have luxury and full service brands here, mid market is a segment you will see more growth in, not just in India but around the world, just because that's where more people are, and that's what they can afford," he added.
Nassetta doesn't see geopolitical developments majorly impacting the sector just yet.
"We brought our top line guidance down a little bit, but we are going to show positive growth in every major market in the world including the US. I feel slightly less good than a quarter ago but not materially so," said Nassetta.
"I think when there is a lot of noise in the world, sometimes people overreact, and I think there has been a bit of an overreaction with what's going on when it comes to matters like the tariff discussions. It's not unusual when there is a new order. The US economy is quite strong when you look at underlying fundamentals of employment, wage growth, corporate profits and balance sheets," he added.
Expansion to tier-2 and -3 locations in India and the leveraging the outbound Indian traveler opportunity are 'super critical', said Nassetta.
"One of the reasons why we are so interested in building a business in India is to not just capture the opportunities here, but also leverage the outbound Indian traveller opportunity. When the 30 million outbound Indian travellers grow to 60 or 70 million over the next ten years, we want them to know us and love us, so they stay with us elsewhere," he added.
Hilton reported a net income of $300 million for the first quarter of this year, and adjusted EBITDA of $795 million. The chain approved 32,600 new rooms for development during the first quarter, bringing its development pipeline to 503,400 rooms as of March 31, 2025, representing a growth of 7% from March 31, 2024.
Hilton had 10,235 trading and in pipeline rooms, and 61 trading and in pipeline hotels in India as of quarter one 2025. The chain is forecasting a 10x growth in its India portfolio over the next decade. The pace of expansion in India would be the fastest among all major markets, said Nassetta.
"Two years ago, I said (to ET in an interview) that India is the best market with the best opportunities on earth and I think it has only gotten better since then. Whether it is people continuing to move manufacturing and supply chains to India or just the basic continued strength in demographic trends," said Nassetta.
"The size of the population, the middle-class growth, the demand supply patterns, and the age of the population. The underlying fundamentals are all super strong for India. I would be very surprised if India is not our third biggest market over the next ten years. It ultimately has the potential to become our second biggest market after the US, but that will take longer," said Nassetta.
Globally, Hilton had 8,602 trading hotels and 3,600 in pipeline hotels as of Q1 2025.
The chain is planning to bring several brands to India.
These include Hilton's luxury brand LXR Hotels & Resorts, the Waldorf Astoria, Signia by Hilton, Slohh by Roach, and Curio Collection by Hilton. The emphasis is on building a network effect in the country across all segments and price points and the chain's focused service brands should see the maximum growth in the country over the coming years, said Nassetta.
"Markets have their ups and downs, but over a long span of time, you will have decades and decades of very strong positive growth in India. We have more hotels than all of India in some cities and that shows how big the opportunity is here. The demographics will continue to drive fabulous demand and the capacity is quite limited," he said. "While we will have luxury and full service brands here, mid market is a segment you will see more growth in, not just in India but around the world, just because that's where more people are, and that's what they can afford," he added.
Nassetta doesn't see geopolitical developments majorly impacting the sector just yet.
"We brought our top line guidance down a little bit, but we are going to show positive growth in every major market in the world including the US. I feel slightly less good than a quarter ago but not materially so," said Nassetta.
"I think when there is a lot of noise in the world, sometimes people overreact, and I think there has been a bit of an overreaction with what's going on when it comes to matters like the tariff discussions. It's not unusual when there is a new order. The US economy is quite strong when you look at underlying fundamentals of employment, wage growth, corporate profits and balance sheets," he added.
Expansion to tier-2 and -3 locations in India and the leveraging the outbound Indian traveler opportunity are 'super critical', said Nassetta.
"One of the reasons why we are so interested in building a business in India is to not just capture the opportunities here, but also leverage the outbound Indian traveller opportunity. When the 30 million outbound Indian travellers grow to 60 or 70 million over the next ten years, we want them to know us and love us, so they stay with us elsewhere," he added.
Hilton reported a net income of $300 million for the first quarter of this year, and adjusted EBITDA of $795 million. The chain approved 32,600 new rooms for development during the first quarter, bringing its development pipeline to 503,400 rooms as of March 31, 2025, representing a growth of 7% from March 31, 2024.
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