UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 Form 10-K (Mark One) ☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 or ☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from to Commission File Number 001-36243 Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 27-4384691 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) 7930 Jones Branch Drive, Suite 1100, McLean, VA 22102 (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code) Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (703) 883-1000 Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Trading symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share HLT New York Stock Exchange Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐ Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐ Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐ Emerging growth company ☐ If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒ As of June 30, 2020, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $19,902 million (based upon the closing sale price of the common stock on that date on the New York Stock Exchange). The number of shares of common stock outstanding on February 10, 2021 was 277,607,799. DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Part III incorporate information by reference from the registrant's definitive proxy statement relating to its 2021 annual meeting of stockholders to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the close of the registrant's fiscal year. HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS INC. FORM 10-K TABLE OF CONTENTS YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020 Page No. PART I Forward-Looking Statements 2 Summary of Risk Factors 2 Terms Used and Basis of Presentation in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, COVID-19 Pandemic and Social Media 3 Item 1. Business 3 Item 1A. Risk Factors 20 Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 42 Item 2. Properties 43 Item 3. Legal Proceedings 45 Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 45 PART II Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 46 Item 6. Selected Financial Data 48 Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 49 Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 68 Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 70 Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 119 Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 119 Item 9B. Other Information 119 PART III 120 Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 120 Item 11. Executive Compensation 120 Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 120 Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 120 Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 120 PART IV Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules 120 Item 16. Form 10-K Summary 125 Signatures 126 1 PART I Forward-Looking Statements This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to our expectations regarding the impact of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") pandemic, the performance of our business, our financial results, our liquidity and capital resources and other non-historical statements. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "outlook," "believes," "expects," "potential," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seeks," "projects," "predicts," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements, including, among others, those described under "Part I— Item 1A. Risk Factors" and under "Summary of Risk Factors" below. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law. Summary of Risk Factors In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating our company and our business. A summary of the principal factors that create risk in investing in our securities and might cause actual results to differ is set forth below: • The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected and will continue to negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations; • We are subject to the business, financial and operating risks inherent to the hospitality industry, any of which could reduce our revenues and limit opportunities for growth; • Macroeconomic and other factors beyond our control can adversely affect and reduce demand for our products and services; • Because we operate in a highly competitive industry, our revenues or profits could be harmed if we are unable to compete effectively; • Our business is subject to risks related to doing business with third-party property owners that could adversely affect our reputation, operational results or prospects for growth; • Failures in, material damage to or interruptions in our information technology systems, software or websites and difficulties in updating our existing software or developing or implementing new software could have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations; • The growth of internet reservation channels could adversely affect our business and profitability; • Because we derive a portion of our revenues from operations outside the U.S. the risks of doing business internationally could lower our revenues, increase our costs, reduce our profits or disrupt our business; and • Our substantial indebtedness and other contractual obligations could adversely affect our financial condition, our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, our ability to operate our business, our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry and our ability to pay our debts, and could divert our cash flow from operations for debt payments. These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could also be affected by factors, events or uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently do not consider to present material risks. 2 Terms Used and Basis of Presentation in this Annual Report on Form 10-K Except where the context requires otherwise, references in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to "Hilton," "the Company," "we," "us" and "our" refer to Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., together with all of its consolidated subsidiaries. Except where the context requires otherwise, references to our "properties" refer to the hotels, resorts and timeshare properties that are managed, franchised, owned or leased by us, while references to "hotels" exclude timeshare properties. On January 3, 2017, we completed the spin-offs of a portfolio of hotels and resorts, as well as our timeshare business, into two independent, publicly traded companies: Park Hotels & Resorts Inc.