(Reuters) – Hilton Worldwide The Omicron variant of COVID-19 caused a rise in travel demand that led to a gain in Holdings Inc’s quarterly profits.

Worldwide hotel operators have seen an increase in demand for their services during the first quarter. This has led to higher occupancy rates.

Hilton’s RevPAR (or revenue per room available) rose by 80.5% in the quarter.

Company shares were repurchased in March. In May, it declared a quarterly cash distribution.

Christopher Nassetta, Chief Executive Officer stated that “our results for the quarter… allowed us to start returning capital to shareholders sooner than we had expected.”

According to the company, revenue for its first quarter reached $1.72Billion, an increase of $874M compared to the previous year.

The quarter ended March 31 saw a net income of $212million, or 75cs per share. That compares with an annual loss of $108million, or 39cs per share.