The war in Iraq and the outbreak of the Sars virus have helped slash profits by 25% at Hilton Group for the first four months of the year.
The problems faced by its hotels, especially in London, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific, were partially offset by a strong performance at its Ladbroke's gaming division.
The group anticipates a return to year-on-year growth in revenue per available room (revpar) in the late summer, and says hotel bookings have improved since the end of the Gulf conflict.
Unsurprisingly, total hotel revpar took the biggest dive in March/April when it plunged by 9.7%, compared with the same period in 2002, after growing by 3.3% and 3.2% year-on-year in January and February.
Only UK hotels experienced declines in revpar throughout the four months. London properties showed a progressive deterioration of 2.7% and 6.2% in the first two months of the year, followed by a steep fall of 14.1% in March/April.
However, year-on-year declines in revpar have slowed markedly in the provinces. In January there was an 8.8% fall; in March/April the drop was just 1.8%.
The strongest gains in revpar were seen in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions, where they grew by 15.5% and 12.7% in the first two months, before plummeting by 13.5% in March/April.
Hotels in Europe and Africa experienced the biggest percentage fall in revpar - down 16.1% in March/April - in the wake of growth rates of 8.2% and 2% in the preceding months.
Properties in the Americas saw the smallest fall (just 1.1%) in March/April, after growing by 0.8% and 8% in January and February.