Hilton's hotel system saw significant expansion, with 973 openings and approximately 98,400 rooms added during the year. This growth reflects Hilton's ongoing strategy to expand its global network.

Hilton's development pipeline remains robust, with 3,578 hotels and 498,600 rooms under development. This indicates a strong outlook for future growth.

In May 2024, Hilton completed the acquisition of the Graduate brand for $210 million, adding 32 properties to its franchise portfolio. This strategic move broadens Hilton's brand offerings and market reach.

Hilton continues to expand its global hotel network, in particular its fee-based business. As we enter into new management and franchise contracts and enter into strategic agreements to complement our hotel portfolio, we expand our business with limited or no capital investment by us as the manager, franchisor or licensor, since the capital required to build, renovate and maintain hotels is typically provided by the third-party owners with whom we contract to provide management services, license our IP or provide access to our booking channels and related programs.

As a hotel owner and lessee, we focus on maximizing cost efficiency and profitability of the portfolio by, among other things, maximizing hotel revenues, implementing cost-effective labor management practices and systems and reducing fixed costs. Through our disciplined approach to hotel and asset management, we develop and execute on strategic plans for each of our hotels to enhance their competitive position and we invest in renovating guest rooms and public spaces and adding or enhancing meeting and retail space for properties where we believe such investments will improve profitability.

Hilton has a dedicated Global Information Security team (collectively, the "GIS team") led by our Chief Information Security Officer ("CISO") that is responsible for identifying, assessing, monitoring, managing and communicating the Company's cybersecurity risks.

From time to time we and our third-party service providers experience cyber-attacks, attempted and actual breaches of our or their information technology systems and networks or similar events, which could result in a loss of sensitive business or customer information, systems interruption or the disruption of our operations.

The hospitality industry demands the use of sophisticated technology and systems for property management, brand assurance and compliance, procurement, finance, human resources, reservation systems, distribution of hotel resources to current and future customers and guest amenities and the operation of the Hilton Honors guest loyalty program.

Macroeconomic conditions, geopolitical activity, public health concerns and other factors beyond our control can reduce demand for hospitality products and services, including demand for rooms at our hotels.

The segments of the hospitality industry in which we operate are subject to intense competition. Our principal competitors are other operators of luxury, full-service and focused-service hotels, including other major hospitality chains with well-established and recognized brands.

Our brands are among our most important assets. Our ability to attract and retain guests depends, in part, on the public recognition of our brands and their associated reputation.

A significant percentage of hotel rooms for individual guests are booked through internet travel intermediaries, to whom we commit to pay various commissions and transaction fees for sales of our rooms through their systems.

Many of the expenses associated with owning and leasing hotels are relatively fixed. These expenses include personnel costs, rent, property taxes, insurance and utilities. If we are unable to decrease these costs significantly or rapidly when demand for our hotels decreases, the resulting decline in our revenues can have an adverse effect on our net cash flows and profits.

We manage a global reservation system that communicates reservations to our branded and strategic partner hotels when made by individuals directly, either online, by telephone to our call centers, through devices via our mobile application, or through intermediaries like travel agents, internet travel websites and other distribution channels.

We remain focused on our goal of reducing emissions, water and waste intensity at the hotels we operate. These efforts are supported by utility cost savings measures including HVAC controls, building automation system technologies and turnkey LED lighting, fueled by utility incentives wherever possible, to strengthen the return on investment and deliver cost savings to owners and enhance the guest experience.

We depend heavily upon our information technology systems in the conduct of our business. We develop, own and license or otherwise contract for sophisticated technology systems and services for property management, brand assurance and compliance, procurement, finance, human resources, reservation systems, distribution of hotel resources to current and future customers and guest amenities and the operation of the Hilton Honors guest loyalty program.

If we fail to keep pace with rapidly evolving technological developments in artificial intelligence, our competitive position and business results may suffer. The introduction of these technologies, particularly generative AI, into new or existing offerings may also result in new or expanded risks and liabilities, including due to enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, litigation, copyright infringement, compliance issues, ethical concerns, security risks relating to private and/or confidential information, as well as other factors that could adversely affect our business, reputation, and financial results.

The hospitality industry demands the use of sophisticated technology and systems for property management, brand assurance and compliance, procurement, finance, human resources, reservation systems, distribution of hotel resources to current and future customers and guest amenities and the operation of the Hilton Honors guest loyalty program.

During the year ended December 31, 2024, we repurchased approximately 13.3 million shares of our common stock for $2.9 billion. As of December 31, 2024, approximately $4.4 billion remained available for share repurchases under our stock repurchase program.

We have a long-term investment policy that is focused on the preservation of capital and maximizing the return on new and existing investments and returning available capital to stockholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Our known long-term liquidity requirements primarily consist of funds necessary to pay for: capital and maintenance expenditures for required renovations and maintenance at the hotels within our ownership segment.

Hilton strives to create long-term value for all our stakeholders and strengthen the resilience of our business while also advancing responsible travel and tourism globally through our Travel with Purpose strategy.

The Hilton Global Foundation supports nonprofits and local community organizations that serve as partners to amplify our positive environmental and social impact around the world.

Hilton also remains committed to combating human trafficking, and we require all hotel-based employees to complete an annual training on identifying signs of trafficking.

The hospitality industry is seasonal in nature. The periods during which our properties experience higher or lower levels of demand vary from property to property, depending principally upon their location, type of property and competitive mix within the specific location.

Consumer demand for our services is closely linked to the performance of the general economy and is sensitive to business and personal discretionary spending levels.

We are subject to the evolving rules and regulations with respect to sustainability matters of a number of governmental and self-regulatory bodies and organizations, including the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"), the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the state of California, and the European Union, that could make compliance more difficult and uncertain.