A tactical focus on the domestic and regional leisure market helped the Hilton Group partly offset declines in international and business travel last year, albeit at the cost of lower hotel room rates.
The drive, which included themed breaks related to sports and theatre bookings, has boosted domestic leisure business in Hilton's UK hotels by 20% and increased its worldwide leisure business "significantly".
Other initiatives include the launch last year of Hilton Worldwide Resorts, a link-up with Coral Hotels to rebrand its Caribbean hotels as Coral by Hilton, and the launch this March of Hilton Suites on board Festival Cruises' premium Mediterranean ships.
Nevertheless, operating profits at the group's 384 hotels dropped last year, by 16.9% from £255.3m to £212.1m, as trading remained difficult, especially in European gateway cities. Turnover grew by 8.8% to £2.7b, from £2.5b the year before.
Group chief executive David Michels said that Hilton's hotels had experienced "very trying conditions, especially in Continental Europe", but he was confident that the group's brands were strong enough to cope with "rapidly changing markets".
He added: "We have managed to expand into new territories in both businesses over the past year. For hotels, we have added contracts for a number of new properties in destinations important to Hilton - perhaps surprisingly so, given the climate.
"We will see in the coming years a third and well-located Hilton in Paris, the first Hilton in Moscow, and the first Hilton in Venice, as well as some of our older and most famous hotels being totally refurbished."
Hilton results at a glance
* Worldwide revenue per available room (revpar) fell by 1% to £44.95, as occupancy dropped by 0.53 percentage points to 64.67% and room rate declined by 0.2% to £69.51.
* Profits at Hilton's UK and Irish hotels fell by 14.6% to £107.7m.
* Revpar at London hotels fell by 5.7% to £73.82. The decline was steeper at five-star properties, where revpar slid by 6.7% and room rate by 6.3%, although occupancy increased by 1.2 percentage points.
* Provincial UK hotels fared better. Revpar fell by 0.3% to £50.52 and occupancy declined by 1.8 percentage points. Room rate grew by 2.2%.
* In Europe and Africa, economic downturns in Germany and Scandinavia, in particular, dragged profits down by 26.5% to £70.6m and revpar down by 3.5% to £48.76.
* Profits in the Americas fell by 23% to £18.5m and revpar declined by 2.1% to £46.05.
* Hotels in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East saw smaller falls in profits, down by 2% to £24.2m, and boosted revpar by 6.4% to £45.89.
* The group's LivingWell health clubs also boosted operating profits by 19.5% to £4.9m, and membership by 7% to 142,000. Turnover, however, fell to £46.9m, from £53.8m in 2001.
* The group, which includes the Ladbroke's betting business, increased overall turnover by 31.6% to £5.5b, but pre-tax profits dropped by 21.2% to £156.1m.