# HotelAnalystPod15Aug2025  ## Episode metadata - Episode title: HotelAnalystPod15Aug2025 - Show: Hotel Analyst Podcast - Owner / Host: Hotel Analyst - Episode publish date: 2025-08-15 - Episode AI description: Discover the elite club of hotel companies raking in billion-dollar profits each quarter, with a spotlight on Hilton and Marriott. Unearth the financial struggles of Accor and IHG, and why their share prices disappoint. The podcast tackles the heavy taxation facing the hospitality sector in the UK, and explores the effects of high VAT rates. It also highlights the essential role of travel and tourism in the UK economy, advocating for workforce training and industry unity amid ongoing challenges. - Duration: 32:13 - Episode URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/episode/9ba2e062-969b-4815-80c6-963b56c592e3) - Show URL: [Open in Snipd](https://share.snipd.com/show/c05fc04b-a3c2-42f7-98d6-e001d49d4aa2) - Export date: 2026-02-11T20:06:34 ## Snips ### [Fee Model Drives Billion-Dollar Profits](https://share.snipd.com/snip/1a07203f-0223-4a54-ad67-863b1a98e33f) 🎧 01:02 - 05:21 (04:19) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/db505ec3-ba6a-4d83-b701-d873369b9c8a" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Marriott and Hilton now each generate over $1bn EBITDA per quarter, showing the fee-based model's strength. - Loyalty, franchise fees and net unit growth make these businesses highly resilient to RevPAR dips. #### 💬 Quote > The fact that Hilton now is joining Marriott in this club I think is significant in that we've got these really big, really sort of grown up companies now in our sector. > — Andrew Sankster Andrew Sankster on Hilton and Marriott hitting $1bn quarterly EBITDA #### 📚 Transcript **Sarah Sankster:** In the second quarter, Hilton reported a 0.5% drop in system-wide RevPAR, but it still delivered just over 1 billion US dollars of EBITDA for the quarter, up almost 10%. Marriott was an even more robust US $1.4 billion, but up slightly less at 7%, despite Better Revpar, which was up 1.5%. What's your take, Andrew? Well, **Andrew Sankster:** I the first thing we need to apologise for is we've been off air for a few weeks because of the summer break and all sorts of adjustments are in. But we are continuing with the podcast. It's not a case that it's not happening. So we're probably going to be more on a fortnightly basis than a weekly basis going forward. But it's very much still going on. And just as there's transition in our podcast, I think the three stories we're going to be talking about in this episode also mark a big transition for the industry. And indeed, the five star and no stars we'll talking about it's a big transition uh for the overall real estate investment market as well and the role that hospitality may or may not play in that going forward but let's you know focus now what you were just talking about here sarah with this uh billion dollar a quarter club i think it's a pretty It's sort of one of those classic things the media get very excited about. It doesn't inherently mean anything that we've suddenly gone through this billion-dollar mark, but the fact that Hilton now is joining Marriott in this club I think is significant in that we've got these really big, really sort of grown up companies now in our sector. And, you know, just showing the strength of the fee based model that's there. And I even more impressive than Marriott, which, that stupendous US $1.42 billion of EBITDA, up 7% year-on that Q2 this year on Q2 last year. It's Hilton, which Marriott's increase came as RevPAR was up 1.5%, but Hilton was down 0.5%. So the fact that the profit can keep going up, and that's one of the big, you know, we've got three levers that these fee-based models are pulling on. One is RevPAR, one is net unit growth, system size and growth, and the other is royalty rate. So if you like, one of those is weakening in the case of Hilton, but overall the other two made up for it, and it's mainly the system growth, I think, in Hilton's case, that has delivered this stupendous, you know getting to that one billion a quarter mark and it looks set fair to continue that and I think that really shows just how how strong Hilton and Marriott are how strong their business models are in the case of Hilton now you know so so much of it is coming out of the franchise fee piece as well. It's not, that's the bit, and that's the most resilient piece there. That's why they're liked by investors. And, you know, I think we're going to go on and talk about, you know, the problems at Accor. I think one of their challenges is that they're much more reliant on the management fee piece rather than the franchise fee thing. So, and it's ancillary revenues as well, the credit cards we've spoken about before, but other stuff like the branded residences piece and things like that coming through. So, the thing that we've got with these two global giants now in Marriott and Hilton are these stupendous engines. --- ### [Loyalty And Franchising Expand Moats](https://share.snipd.com/snip/8e9b0f56-1e05-48e7-bed5-a83813bc461e) 🎧 05:21 - 06:53 (01:31) <iframe src="https://share.snipd.com/embed/obsidian-player/snip/1a549133-98f0-4303-bf75-b30233ae70bc" width="100%" height="100" style="border: none; border-radius: 12px;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-popups allow-clipboard-write" ></iframe> - Marriott and Hilton pull far ahead partly thanks to massive loyalty programme growth. - Their international member bases and franchise-heavy mix sustain profit despite softer RevPAR. #### 💬 Quote > Marriott's programme is almost 250 million members...Hilton's honours is now at 226 million. > — Andrew Sankster Andrew Sankster on loyalty programmes supporting profitability #### 📚 Transcript **Andrew Sankster:** They've got these loyalty schemes, Bonvoy now, Marriott's programme. It's almost 250 million members. At the quarter end, it was 248. Just to give a sense of how rapidly this is still growing, immediately before the lockdowns, the lockdowns, so just five years ago, it was 177 million. So that's a huge growth level that we're seeing there. And this is, these are not just throwing off huge amounts of profit, but they're continuing to grow that level of profitability. In Hilton's case, their membership programme honours is now at 226 million. So a 16% year on year increase. And I think just as importantly, that membership is not just US, it's half of it is international or ex-US membership. So we're seeing quite big transitions there in terms of what we have. seem to be pulling ahead. Marriott and Hilton are pulling ahead of the next in that global major lineup, which is IHG and Accor we're about to go on and talk about. But both IHG and Accor are struggling to get to that billion every year. So we're talking about companies which are throwing off four times the level of profit. --- Created with [Snipd](https://www.snipd.com) | Highlight & Take Notes from Podcasts