Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc raised its full-year profit forecast after strong business and leisure travel helped the company post better-than-expected quarterly results.

Rising consumer confidence in a recovering U.S. economy has boosted the travel industry, allowing hotels to raise room rates.

Marriott International Inc and Hyatt Hotels Corp have also reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

Hilton, the world's largest hotel operator, said it now expects a full-year profit of 64 to 67 cents per share, up from its earlier forecast of 57 to 61 cents. The hotelier, whose brands include Conrad and Waldorf Astoria, said it expects revenue per available room (RevPAR) to rise 5.5 to 6.5 percent in the second quarter.

RevPAR is calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate by its occupancy rate.

Hilton, which has 4,155 hotels with a total of 686,790 rooms, said it had 510 hotels and 101,000 rooms under construction at the end of the first quarter. The company said it accounted for more than 18 percent of all hotel rooms under construction globally.

First-quarter RevPAR increased 6.6 percent at hotels open for at least a year.

The company's net income attributable to shareholders rose to $123 million, or 12 cents per share, from $34 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Hilton earned 13 cents per share.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $2.36 billion.

Analysts on average expected a profit of 9 cents per share on revenue of $2.34 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton, the company went public in December 2013, raising more than $2.3 billion in what was the second-largest IPO that year.

Blackstone Group LP, which had taken Hilton private in 2007, retains a 76 percent stake in the company.

Hilton's shares have gained about 5 percent since their debut. They closed at $22.64 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

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