Park Hotels & Resorts saw its core portfolio of hotels come through, delivering solid performance through the end of 2025.
During the hotel-focused real estate investment trust's fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call, Park Chairman, President and CEO Thomas Baltimore Jr. said it was a productive year in which the company continued to make progress on its strategic goal to reshape and reinvest in its hotel portfolio.
During the fourth quarter, Park’s core portfolio saw a 3.2% increase in revenue per available room, Baltimore said. That increases to 5.7% when excluding the Royal Palm South Beach Miami, a Tribute Portfolio Resort that has suspended operations since May 2025 for renovation. That represents nearly 1,500 basis points of outperformance compared to the non-core portfolio.
“That trend was consistent throughout much of the year, with RevPAR growth from our core portfolio outperforming the non-core hotels by an average of 480 basis points in 2025, further reinforcing our stated strategy,” he said.
Group demand at Park's hotels was a standout during the quarter, supported by convention demand in Hawaii and New York along with solid corporate group activity in Orlando, Baltimore said. Within the core portfolio, group revenue increased 13% year over year complemented by double-digit growth in banquet and catering revenue across several key markets, including Hawaii, Chicago, Orlando and Denver.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort was one of the REIT's strongest performers during the fourth quarter, generating 22% RevPAR growth, benefiting from easier year-over-year comparisons following last year's labor disruption, he said. The Park team is encouraged by the outlook for its Hawaiian properties following the completion of the Rainbow Tower renovation at Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort and the Palace Tower at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.
“Following the renovation, both resorts will be operating with significantly upgraded product and should be well-positioned for a step-up in performance as demand trends are forecasted to improve and we lap an otherwise challenging 2025 which our resorts were meaningfully impacted by,” he said.
The disruption from last year’s Liberation Day and U.S. government shutdown continued to create softness in inbound Canadian and renovation displacement, Baltimore said.
“As we look ahead, we expect a multiyear recovery toward prior peak levels in Hawaii,” he said. “We are beginning to see that recovery take shape, with momentum building into the second quarter. As Hawaii continues to normalize, we expect it to be one of the most meaningful contributors to earnings growth across the portfolio.”
The New York Hilton Midtown delivered its highest fourth-quarter group revenue in its history, growing 8% year over year, Baltimore said. The Hilton Chicago posted a nearly 4% increase in group revenue despite a challenging citywide calendar due to improved short-term pickup strategies and in-house group.
Miami remains one of the strongest hotel markets in the country, and Baltimore said he is excited about the long-term outlook for the Royal Palm resort, he said. The Park team continues to expect to realize a 15% to 20% return on its invested capital, with the hotel forecast to grow its EBITDA from $14 million to nearly $28 million once stabilized.
Company outlook
Looking to 2026, Park’s leadership sees several factors that could support an improving lodging environment, Baltimore said.
“From a macro perspective, the U.S. economy remains on relatively firm footing,” he said. “Modestly higher growth expectations, easing inflation and ongoing fiscal stimulus — all of which should provide incremental support to the U.S. consumer.”
In addition, the hotel industry will see easier year-over-year comparisons as it laps last year’s federal government demand disruptions and sees anticipated lifts from major events, including the FIFA World Cup matches and America 250 celebrations in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C.
New hotel construction remains muted, keeping supply growth to historical lows and supporting healthy operating fundamentals for the next several years, he said.
“While we remain optimistic about the setup for the year, with easier year-over-year comparisons and major event-driven demand, our guidance remains cautious with the potential for geopolitical or macroeconomic volatility continuing to drive uncertainty around booking decisions and impacting short-term group pickup trends and international inbound demand, particularly from Canada,” he said.
Portfolio strategy
Park’s ongoing strategy has been to concentrate its ownership on 21 core hotels with superior growth prospects, and aggressively exit its non-core properties, Baltimore said. It is allocating the capital generated toward high-impact redevelopment projects that have the potential to unlock meaningful embedded value within the core portfolio with return-on-investment opportunities exceeding $1 billion.
In 2025, Park sold more than $120 million in hotels from its non-core portfolio, he said. These properties included the Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf and a 25% joint venture interest in the Capital Hilton as well as three hotels sitting on expiring ground leases that produced no earnings on a combined basis.
Entering the new year, Park is making steady progress toward its remaining non-core hotel sales, Baltimore said. In January, it closed on the sale of the 193-room Hilton Checkers Los Angeles for roughly $13 million.
“We have established a strong track record of successfully recycling capital, having sold or disposed of 51 hotels for over $3 billion over the past nine years,” he said. “And despite a challenging transaction environment, we have sold or disposed of 13 hotels since 2023, increasing portfolio-wide nominal RevPAR by nearly 8% and hotel adjusted EBITDA margins by over 275 basis points.”
Park is "laser-focused" on reshaping its hotel portfolio to comprise only its core properties, Baltimore said. The core hotels account for 90% of the EBITDA in the company and 90% of the value. The core hotels’ RevPAR is about $215 to $218, roughly 69% above the non-core properties. They generate about $40,000 in EBITDA per key and 30% EBITDA margins as compared to non-core RevPAR of about $129 and about 14% margins and $10,000 in EBITDA per key.
The stark contrast in performance is why Park is so aggressively working toward having a portfolio of only core hotels, he said. Over the years, it has sold or disposed of 51 hotels, including 14 international joint ventures in Dublin, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa.
“The team is skilled, the team is experienced,” Baltimore said. “We've done it in the worst of times. We were selling during the pandemic. We've been selling post-pandemic. There are buyers. I think everybody knows that we're a net-seller.”
In some cases, the hotels targeted for sale have short-term ground leases, joint ventures or low tax bases, he said. Every single hotel has a story, but the teams are working hard to get the job done.
“The goal is to get as many of them, if not all of them, done this year,” he said, adding that while those subject to a legal dispute will likely lag, work on the remaining 10 is underway.
For 2026, Park expects to spend between $230 million and $260 million in capital improvement projects, including completing the renovation of the Royal Palm. It also plans to begin the $96 million renovation of the 348-key Ali’I Tower at the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort during the third quarter. It expects to complete the third and final phase of the main tower renovation at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside by December.
By the numbers
For the fourth quarter of 2025, Park reported total revenue of $629 million, up from $625 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to its earnings release. For the full year, it reported $2.54 billion, down from nearly $2.6 billion the year before.
It reported a net loss of $204 million in the quarter, down from net income of $73 million in 2024. For the full year, it reported a net loss of $277 million as compared to net income of $226 million the year prior.
Park achieved adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $152 million during the fourth quarter, up from $138 million in 2024. For the full year, it reported adjusted EBITDA of $609 million, down from $652 million in 2024.
As of Dec. 31, 2025, Park’s liquidity was approximately $2 billion, including $1 billion of available capacity under its revolver and its undrawn $800 million 2025 Delayed Draw Term Loan. Its net debt was approximately $3.7 billion with a weighted-average maturity of its consolidated debt at 2.2 years.
The REIT is in active discussions with its lenders for a new $650 million delayed draw, non-recourse mortgage loan secured by the Bonnet Creek Mortgage Loan and expects to complete the transaction by the end of the first quarter. That will give it the ability to draw upon the Bonnet Creek Mortgage Loan in September 2026. Park expects to draw from both the Bonnet Creek Mortgage Loan and the 2025 Delayed Draw Term Loan to fully prepay, without penalty, its $121 million secured mortgage loan encumbering the Hyatt Regency Boston at the end of the second quarter and the $1.275 billion secured mortgage loan on the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort during the third quarter.
Park also plans to refinance the $153 million secured mortgage loan on its Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort during the fourth quarter.
As of press time, Park’s stock was trading at $11.28 per share, down 13.5% year over year. The NYSE Composite was up 16.3% for the same period.