Major hotel companies closing out third-quarter reporting this week delivered a familiar — and increasingly bifurcated — picture of global travel demand: premium and resort properties continue to outperform, while midscale and economy segments in the U.S. and parts of Asia showed softness. Companies are chiefly managing slower RevPAR momentum, tightening growth forecasts in some markets, and leaning on buybacks and capital returns to support shareholder returns.

Hilton: luxury lifts the numbers, but RevPAR slips

Hilton reported results that beat earnings expectations but revealed pressure under the hood: system-wide RevPAR was down modestly year over year, while overall revenue and adjusted EPS topped forecasts. The company posted adjusted EPS of $2.11 and revenue of about $3.12 billion in Q3 2025, but comparable RevPAR slipped roughly 1.1% on a like-for-like basis. Hilton said full-year 2025 RevPAR is now expected to be flat to up 1% (compared with earlier, stronger targets), even as it raised its full-year adjusted EPS outlook and reiterated a sizeable capital-return plan. 

Hilton highlighted that luxury brands — including LXR, Conrad and Waldorf Astoria — were a bright spot, growing RevPAR while the midscale and urban markets experienced softer occupancy and ADR. Analysts and management pointed to resilient high-end leisure demand and international pockets of strength (notably the Middle East and Africa) as the drivers. 

IHG: marginal growth, regionally mixed

InterContinental Hotels Group’s Q3 trading update showed essentially flat quarter-on-quarter RevPAR (+0.1% in Q3) and modest year-to-date gains (YTD global RevPAR +1.4%), with notable regional divergence — EMEAA led growth. At the same time, Greater China remained negative year to date. IHG said openings and signings remained strong, and that it remains on track to meet consensus profit and earnings expectations for the year. 

Wyndham: RevPAR headwinds in the economy segment

Wyndham — which is concentrated in economy- and midscale-franchised hotels — reported a more pronounced RevPAR decline, with global RevPAR down about 5% year-over-year in Q3, driven by a roughly 5% decline in the U.S. The company generated healthy operating and free cash flow in the quarter, but management emphasized margin and franchising levers as responses to demand softness in the value tier. 

Accor: narrow revenue miss but stronger guidance and buyback

European group Accor narrowly missed revenue expectations for the quarter but surprised markets by raising its 2025 EBITDA growth target and announcing a €100 million share buyback tranche for Q4 — signaling confidence in cash generation despite near-term top-line noise and currency headwinds. Accor’s results also illustrated the familiar regional mix: pockets of weakness in Greater China and some Southeast Asian markets contrasted with stronger performance in Europe and the Middle East. 

Marriott and Hyatt: still to come — market watching guidance

Two of the largest public issuers — Marriott International and Hyatt — had scheduled their third-quarter releases and investor calls for early November. Investors will be watching both for updated RevPAR trends in North America, commentary on group demand vs. transient and group mix, and any guidance revisions for full-year 2025. Marriott set its Q3 release for November 4, 2025, and Hyatt announced an investor call for November 6, 2025. 

What the quarter says about demand and company strategy

Across the companies that have reported so far, several themes emerged:

• Luxury and resort resilience: Upscale and upper-upscale brands are outperforming, supporting corporate results even when system-wide RevPAR weakens. This split is most visible at asset-light operators that have a larger portfolio of premium brands. 

• Geographic divergence: Europe, the Middle East and some leisure markets are holding up better than U.S. urban and China, where demand softness (and, in some cases, currency effects) is weighing on comparable metrics. 

• Caution on full-year RevPAR guidance: Several groups trimmed or made their RevPAR guidance more conservative — shifting the emphasis from top-line growth to margin management and cash returns. Hilton explicitly narrowed RevPAR expectations while raising EPS guidance, and Accor increased EBITDA targets while noting a slight revenue shortfall. 

• Capital returns and balance-sheet moves: Share buybacks and continued capital returns were highlighted as tools to support shareholder value amid an uneven RevPAR picture — Accor’s buyback and Hilton’s large capital-return plan are current examples. 

Analyst takeaway and near-term outlook

Analysts say the quarter looks like a normalization after the strong post-pandemic rebound: travel demand is still growing in absolute terms but is settling into a more differentiated pattern by price tier, region and purpose (leisure vs. business). The upcoming Marriott and Hyatt calls will be key to confirming whether U.S. group and corporate demand recovery is accelerating or stalling — and whether management teams will lean further on cost discipline and capital allocation to protect margins.