H World Group’s manachised and franchised hotel revenue increased 25.2% year over year to RMB3.6 billion in Q2 2026, while 497 of the 498 hotels the company opened in China during the quarter used its manachised or franchise model. The figures highlight an increasingly asset-light growth strategy even as H World’s overall hotel network continues expanding rapidly.
The contrast with directly operated hotels was pronounced. Revenue from leased and owned hotels declined 4.9% to RMB3.2 billion, while H World continued exiting certain leased properties. In China, the company opened only one leased-and-owned hotel during Q2 but closed 19, producing a net reduction of 18 directly operated properties.
H World’s China portfolio ended June with 13,417 hotels, including 12,933 M&F locations and just 484 leased-and-owned hotels. The China development pipeline contained another 3,054 unopened properties, of which 3,046 were M&F hotels.
The same strategy is visible at the room level across the global company. H World operated approximately 1.335 million rooms at June 30, with 93% operating under manachised and franchised models and only 7% under the leased-and-owned model.
The network expansion helped H World China revenue increase 14.9% to RMB5.9 billion during Q2. Overall group revenue increased 10.8% to RMB7.12 billion, while total hotel turnover increased 13.2% to RMB30.5 billion.
Expansion also helped offset softer results at mature Chinese hotels. Blended HWC RevPAR increased 1.1% to RMB238 as average daily rate increased 2.6%, but same-hotel RevPAR at properties operating for at least 18 months fell 3% as same-hotel occupancy declined 2.4 percentage points.
Profitability increased despite weakness in the international business. Group adjusted EBITDA reached RMB2.7 billion compared with RMB2.3 billion a year earlier. HWC adjusted EBITDA rose to RMB2.6 billion from RMB2.1 billion, while international adjusted EBITDA declined to RMB131 million from RMB164 million as Middle East disruptions and expansion into lower-ADR Southeast Asian markets weighed on RevPAR.
H World raised its full-year M&F revenue growth outlook to 16% to 20% from 12% to 16%. Group revenue growth guidance increased to 4% to 8% from 2% to 6%, while HWC growth guidance excluding DH increased to 7% to 11% from 5% to 9%.
The company is simultaneously returning more capital to shareholders. H World approved a three-year shareholder return plan of up to $2.5 billion through dividends and/or ADS repurchases and immediately declared an approximately $275 million ordinary cash dividend, equal to $0.87 per ADS. H World had about $1.5 billion of net cash at June 30.
KEY QUOTES:
“During the second quarter, we delivered another quarter of RevPAR expansion. Our blended HWC ADR rose 2.6% year-on-year, fueling a 1.1% year-over-year lift in blended RevPAR. This performance was underpinned by ongoing product upgrades and a suite of revenue-management optimization initiatives. Meanwhile, our hotel network kept expanding at a solid pace, with 498 newly-opened hotels across China; and the number of hotels in our pipeline grew both year-over-year and quarter-over quarter We remain firmly on track to hit our full-year gross opening guidance of 2,200-2,300 hotels. Looking ahead, we will continue to pursue ‘brand-led’ high-quality hotel network expansion, backed by our H Rewards membership program and technology development.”
“In the second quarter of 2026, our HWI segment’s operational performance was negatively impacted by the Middle East conflict as well as our expansion into the developing South Eastern Asia countries which have lower ADRs and are still in the ramp-up period. The HWI segment recorded a 3.8% year-over-year blended RevPAR decrease, with a 0.9% increase in ADR and a 3.5 percentage-point decrease in occupancy rate. While tensions in the Middle East persist, we believe our HWI segment will show resilience given its low exposure to the region and our continuous efficiency improvement and cost optimization efforts.”
Jin Hui, Chief Executive Officer of H World Group
