H World Ends 2025 Strong as Asset-Light Growth Lifts Profit

H World Group said that it ended 2025 with higher revenue, stronger profit, and a larger global hotel network.

Revenue beats forecast as profit jumps sharply

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 8.3 percent year over year to RMB 6.5 billion ($933 million), beating the company’s earlier forecast. For the full year, revenue increased 5.9 percent to RMB 25.3 billion ($3.6 billion).

Profit rose much faster than revenue. Net income attributable to shareholders reached RMB 1.2 billion ($168 million) in the fourth quarter, compared with RMB 49 million ($7.0 million) a year earlier.

For the full year, net income rose to RMB 5.1 billion ($726 million).

By the end of 2025, H World had 12,858 hotels and more than 1.26 million rooms in operation across 21 countries.

Managed and franchised hotels were the main growth engine

The main reason performance improved was H World’s continued shift toward managed and franchised hotels. Under this model, hotel owners operate properties using H World’s brands and systems, while the company earns management and franchise fees.

That strategy became even more important in 2025.

Revenue from managed and franchised hotels grew 21.0 percent in the fourth quarter and 23.1 percent for the full year.

Revenue from leased and owned hotels fell 3.2 percent in the quarter and 6.5 percent for the year.

In other words, H World did not just grow larger. It also improved the mix of its business.

Operating margin rose to 29.1 percent in the fourth quarter from 15 percent a year earlier. For the full year, operating margin reached 26.9 percent, up from 21.8 percent in 2024.

China remained the core market, but demand was not strong everywhere

H World’s China business, reported as Legacy-Huazhu, remained the company’s main source of scale. But the operating data showed a more mixed picture beneath the headline growth.

In the fourth quarter, the average daily rate rose, and RevPAR also improved slightly. But occupancy fell from the same period a year earlier. At the same time, mature hotels that had been open for at least 18 months reported a 2.5 percent decline in same-hotel RevPAR.

This suggests that H World’s growth in China came more from expansion than from a broad improvement at older hotels. The company opened 2,444 hotels during 2025 and ended the year with 2,906 unopened hotels in the pipeline, showing that it is still relying heavily on network growth to support results.

The international business became a stronger contributor

H World’s business outside China also improved. Its international segment, known as Legacy-DH, includes the former Deutsche Hospitality business. While this unit is much smaller than the China segment, it delivered a better result in 2025.

Legacy-DH revenue rose 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter. Blended RevPAR increased 7.0 percent in the quarter and 8.2 percent for the full year. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment turned positive in both the quarter and the full year, after losses in 2024.

2026 guidance points to growth, but at a slower pace

2026 should bring another year of expansion, but not an especially aggressive one. H World expects full-year revenue growth of 2–6 percent, or 5–9 percent excluding the DH business. It also expects managed and franchised revenue growth of 12–16 percent.

The company plans to open 2,200 to 2,300 hotels in 2026 and close 600 to 700. That means it still expects net growth, while also removing weaker hotels from the portfolio.

H World also announced a finance leadership change. Arthur Yu became chief financial officer on March 18, 2026, replacing Chen Hui. Yu previously served as chief financial officer of Baozun and also held senior roles at Jaguar Land Rover and BT Group.

H World’s third-quarter 2025 results showed that the company was expanding rapidly through managed and franchised hotels while improving margins under its asset-light strategy.

The latest full-year report now shows that this was not a one-quarter spike but a broader pattern: H World kept scaling its hotel network, lifted profitability, and entered 2026 with growth still intact, though with a more measured outlook.

Photo by Anmol Seth on Unsplash