One of the largest hotel companies in China is raising its earnings projections based on continued overperformance of its business.
Shanghai-based H World, which has a global hotel portfolio of 13,539 hotels and 1,335,445 rooms, posted a 10.8% year-over-year increase in revenue to 7.1 billion Chinese yuan ($1.05 billion) in the second quarter.
The company splits its hotel portfolio into two sections, H World China and H World International. H World has 13,417 hotels in China and 122 hotels internationally. Its Chinese domestic pipeline stands at 3,054 hotels.
H World execs increased the company's outlook for group revenue growth for full-year 2026 to between 4% and 8%. Officials also raised the company's full-year Chinese portfolio revenue growth outlook to between 7% and 11%.
H World's improving margins contributed to the updated forecast. Executives said its margin equaled 31.1% in the second quarter of 2026, compared with 27.8% in the second quarter of 2025, driven “by a higher revenue contribution from our [managed and franchised] businesses, consistent with our asset-light expansion strategy.”
Revenue per available room for H World's Chinese hotel portfolio came in at 238 Chinese yuan ($35.30) in the second quarter of 2026, up 1.3%. International hotel RevPAR for the same period was $98, down 4% year over year.
In a statement, H World’s CEO Hui Jin said the company has been negatively affected by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, although it has “low exposure” in the region, but it remains “firmly on track to hit our full‑year gross opening guidance of 2,200‑2,300 hotels.”
“Looking ahead, we will continue to pursue ‘brand-led’ high-quality hotel network expansion,” he said.
H World's Chinese hotel revenue in the second quarter was 5.9 billion yuan, a 14.9% year-over-year increase and a 16.8% quarter-over-quarter increase. Its international hotel revenue was 1.3 billion yuan, a 5.8% year-over-year decrease but a 28.9% quarter-over-quarter increase of.
The company also approved a new three-year, $2.5 billion capital return to shareholders of $2.5 billion.