Hilton Worldwide CEO Christopher Nassetta stated in June 2015 that the company was evaluating a corporate spin-off of a REIT to hold its $13-billion real estate portfolio.[2] The plan was part of Nassetta's strategy of moving Hilton to an "asset-light" business model, to enable rapid international growth.[3][4][5] It was also meant to take advantage of the lack of corporate income taxes on REITs.[6] Hilton announced definitive plans in February 2016 to spin off a REIT (Park Hotels & Resorts) and its timeshare business (Hilton Grand Vacations) as separate companies.[7][8] The spin-offs were completed on January 4, 2017.[9][10] Park Hotels became the second-largest publicly traded hotel REIT, with holdings of 67 hotels.[8][10]
In 2018, Park Hotels sold 13 hotels that it considered "non-core" assets, including 10 of its 14 international properties, for a total of $519 million.[11][12][13]
In 2019, Park acquired Chesapeake Lodging Trust for $1 billion in cash plus $978 million in stock.[17] The purchase added eighteen hotels to Park's portfolio, and diversified it by adding hotel brands franchised from Marriott, Hyatt, and others.[17][18]
The company sold another 10 hotels in 2019 and 2020, including its last remaining properties outside of the United States, for total proceeds of $688 million.[19] Another 5 hotels were sold in 2021 for proceeds of $477 million, producing a net loss of $5 million on these properties.[1] Four more properties were sold in 2022 for a total of $260 million, as part of the company's long-term deleveraging plan.[20]
In June 2023, the company surrendered two of its San Francisco properties, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and the nearby Parc 55 San Francisco, to its lender JPMorgan Chase. In a press release, the company stated that "we believe San Francisco's path to recovery remains clouded and elongated by major challenges" and cited the city's "record high office vacancy; concerns over street conditions; lower return to office than peer cities; and a weaker than expected citywide convention calendar through 2027 that will negatively impact business and leisure demand and will likely significantly reduce compression in the city for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the continued burden on our operating results and balance sheet is too significant to warrant continuing to subsidize and own these assets."[21] The two hotels were valued together at over $1.5 billion when the $725 million loan from JPMorgan Chase was issued to the company in 2016, leading the Financial Times to suggest that the company believed the value of both properties had more than halved by the time of the buildings' surrender.[22]
Properties
Park Hotels & Resorts has whole or partial ownership of 50 hotels, containing 30,000 rooms.[20] The bulk of the hotels operate under brands licensed from Hilton Worldwide, including Hilton, DoubleTree, and Embassy Suites.[23] Park Hotels manages four of the properties itself; the remainder are managed by other companies, most of them by Hilton Worldwide.[24]
Notable hotels owned by the company include:[25][23]
