Cover and table of contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

or

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number 001-36243

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (703) 883-1000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐

Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of June 30, 2021, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $32,816 million (based upon the closing sale price of the common stock on that date on the New York Stock Exchange). The number of shares of common stock outstanding on February 9, 2022 was 279,139,082.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III incorporate information by reference from the registrant's definitive proxy statement relating to its 2022 annual meeting of stockholders to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the close of the registrant's fiscal year.

HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS INC.

FORM 10-K TABLE OF CONTENTS

YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

PART I

Forward-Looking Statements

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to our expectations regarding the impact of the coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic, the performance of our business, our financial results, our liquidity and capital resources and other non-historical statements. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seeks," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements, including, among others, those described under "Part I—Item 1A. Risk Factors" and under "Summary of Risk Factors" below. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Summary of Risk Factors

In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating our company and our business. A summary of the principal factors that create risk in investing in our securities and might cause actual results to differ is set forth below:

• The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected and will continue to negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations;

• We are subject to the business, financial and operating risks inherent to the hospitality industry, any of which could reduce our revenues and limit opportunities for growth;

• Macroeconomic and other factors beyond our control can adversely affect and reduce demand for our products and services;

• Because we operate in a highly competitive industry, our revenues or profits could be harmed if we are unable to compete effectively;

• Our business is subject to risks related to doing business with third-party property owners that could adversely affect our reputation, operational results or prospects for growth;

• Failures in, material damage to or interruptions in our information technology systems, software or websites, including as a result of cyber-attacks on our systems or systems operated by third parties that provide operational and technical services to us, costs associated with protecting the integrity and security of personal data and other sensitive information and difficulties in updating our existing software or developing or implementing new software could have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations;

• The growth of internet reservation channels could adversely affect our business and profitability;

• Because we derive a portion of our revenues from operations outside the United States ("U.S."), the risks of doing business internationally could lower our revenues, increase our costs, reduce our profits or disrupt our business;

• Labor shortages could restrict our ability to operate our properties or grow our business or result in increased labor costs that could adversely affect our results of operations; and

• Our substantial indebtedness and other contractual obligations could adversely affect our financial condition, our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, our ability to operate our business, our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry and our ability to pay our debts, and could divert our cash flow from operations for debt payments.

These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could also be affected by factors, events or uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently do not consider to present material risks.

Terms Used and Basis of Presentation in this Annual Report on Form 10-K

Except where the context requires otherwise, references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to "Hilton," "the Company," "we," "us" and "our" refer to Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., together with all of its consolidated subsidiaries. Except where the context requires otherwise, references to our "properties" refer to the hotels, resorts and timeshare properties that are managed, franchised, owned or leased by us, while references to "hotels" exclude timeshare properties.

On January 3, 2017, we completed the spin-offs of a portfolio of hotels and resorts, as well as our timeshare business, into two independent, publicly traded companies: Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. ("Park") and Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. ("HGV"), respectively, (the "spin-offs"). Hilton did not retain any interest in Park or HGV, but did enter into long-term management and franchise contracts with Park for the portfolio of hotels and resorts that it held at the time of the spin-offs and a 100-year license agreement with HGV for the timeshare business.

Refer to "Part II—Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key Business and Financial Metrics Used by Management" for additional information on our financial and performance metrics.

Social Media

We use our website at newsroom.hilton.com, our Facebook page at facebook.com/hiltonnewsroom and our corporate Twitter account at twitter.com/hiltonnewsroom as channels of distribution of company information. The information we post through these channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these channels, in addition to following our press releases, our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and our webcasts. The contents of our website and social media channels are not, however, part of this report.