The Luxury Tier Is Built
Hilton has spent years building luxury hotels in Saudi Arabia. Simon Vincent, the company's president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, says the upper end of that market is largely established. He places the next wave of demand in mid-market brands and franchise agreements. Skift published the interview on September 18, 2026.
What Vincent Said
“We’ve got Conrads, Waldorfs, Hiltons, Curios, and DoubleTrees coming out of our ears over there,” Vincent said. “But it’s the mid-market we want to build out, and that’s how, very often, markets evolve.”
Hilton reports 28 brands, 9,400 properties, 1.4 million rooms and 144 countries and territories on its corporate pages. The mid-market formats Vincent names are Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton.
Turkey Is the Stated Playbook
Vincent pointed to Turkey. The Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus opened in 1955, and the company now counts more than 100 hotels in the country. Hilton Garden Inns opened in provincial towns, and Hampton hotels opened in secondary cities.
He described franchising as a function of market maturity and brand type. Waldorf Astoria hotels stay under Hilton management. Formulaic mid-market and budget properties suit franchise agreements, and he places the Saudi build-out in that group.
The Pipeline and the Numbers Behind It
Skift reports a Saudi pipeline of 70 hotels. Much of it is already under construction, and it holds while Vision 2030 giga-projects are scaled back. Middle East signings rose in Hilton's second quarter.
The regional backdrop runs against the build-out. Middle East and Africa revenue per available room fell about 30 percent year on year in the second quarter. Hilton recorded a direct EBITDA hit of more than $20 million tied to regional conflict, and guides full-year regional RevPAR to a decline in the high single to low double digits.
Europe carries the region. First-half RevPAR rose 5.5 percent on Southern European leisure demand and a resilient UK. The EMEA footprint stands at more than 1,100 hotels with nearly 600 more in the pipeline.
What the Interview Does Not Carry
The report gives no brand count for Saudi Arabia, no fee terms, no capital commitment and no named pipeline hotel. It carries no split between franchised and managed properties inside the 70.
Those figures sit with Hilton's development team and its investor relations desk.