"Enormously difficult" times for Hilton US
Profits at US-based Hilton Hotels Corporation fell by 66% in the three months to 30 September, the company said today.
Hilton said a fall in occupancy as a result of the 11 September attacks had led to a decline in profits from $62m (£43.5m) in 2000 to just $21m (£14.7m) this year.
Comparable revenue per available room (revpar) at the company's owned or operated hotels in the USA dropped by 17.3% during the third quarter, with occupancy falling by 8.4 percentage points to 68.3%.
Turnover for the group fell by 18% to $711m (£499m) compared with the same period in 2000.
Stephen Bollenbach, president and chief executive of Hilton Hotels, said it had been an "enormously difficult" period for the USA and for the travel industry as a whole.
He remained confident, however, that despite the challenges that faced the industry, Hilton would ensure that it weathered the current crisis.
Despite Bollenbach's optimism, the group expects both the fourth quarter and the year as a whole to remain flat.
