In the third quarter, systemwide RevPAR grew 99% year-over-year.
Compared to 2019, RevPAR was down roughly 19%, improving 17 percentage points versus the second quarter, with systemwide rates down just 2.5% versus 2019.
Adjusted EBITDA totaled approximately $519 million, up 132% year-over-year and down 14% versus 2019.
In the quarter, business transient room nights were roughly 75% of prior peak levels.
For the quarter, group RevPAR was approximately 60% of 2019 levels, improving 21 percentage points from the second quarter.
Overall systemwide RevPAR versus 2019 peaked in July at 85% with rates just shy of prior peaks.
Both August and September RevPAR achieved roughly 80% of 2019 levels, driven by continued strength in leisure and upticks in business travel post-Labor Day as offices and schools reopen.
These trends improved modestly into October with month-to-date RevPAR at approximately 84% of 2019 levels and rates in the U.S. nearly back to prior peaks.
Roughly 40% of systemwide hotels have exceeded 2019 RevPAR levels in October month-to-date.
Additionally, bookings for all future periods are just 8% below 2019.
TSA reported third quarter travel numbers were nearly 80% of 2019 with demand picking up further following the announcements of the U.S. border reopening and the lift of the international travel ban for vaccinated travelers.
Additionally, studies show that nearly 70% of U.S. businesses are back on the road, up 28 points from the end of the second quarter.
With roughly 80% of our typical corporate mix coming from small- and medium-sized businesses and with the lagging recovery of larger corporate travel, we've taken the opportunity to continue our work from before COVID to further increase our focus on this segment of demand.
We added nearly 100 hotels and 15,000 rooms across all major regions and delivered strong net unit growth of 6.6% in the third quarter.
Conversions represented roughly 1/3 of openings.
Year-to-date, we've added more than 42,000 net rooms globally, higher than all our major branded competitors.
To date, we have signed more than 100 deals to develop Hilton Garden properties in China, strengthening our confidence in the long-term growth of our focused service brands and our ability to cater to a growing middle class.
Following our recently announced exclusive license agreement with Country Garden, we were thrilled to open our first Home2 Suites in China with plans to grow to more than 1,000 properties.
We also celebrated the opening of our 500th Home2 Suites following the brand's launch just 10 years ago, making it one of the fastest-growing brands in industry history and boasting the industry's largest pipeline in North America with more than 400 hotels in development.
In the quarter, we signed nearly 24,000 rooms, up approximately 40% year-over-year, driven by strength in the Americas and Asia Pacific regions.
With approximately 404,000 rooms in development, more than half of which are under construction, we expect positive development trends to continue, driven by both new development and conversion opportunities.
For the full year, we expect net unit growth in the 5% to 5.5% range, and we continue to expect mid-single-digit growth for the next several years.
We continue to focus on new opportunities to further engage our 123 million Honors members and are thrilled to see engagement is nearly back to 2019 levels.
In the quarter, membership grew 11% year-over-year.
Honors members accounted for 59% of occupancy with the U.S. at 66%, just two points below 2019 levels.
During the pandemic, approximately 23 million U.S. households brought home a new pet, including my own.
In the coming months, Homewood Suites will join Home2 in becoming 100% pet-friendly in the U.S. with plans for all limited service brands to be pet-friendly by the first quarter of next year.
During the quarter, systemwide RevPAR grew 98.7% versus the prior year on a comparable and currency-neutral basis as the recovery continued to accelerate, driven by strong leisure demand, particularly in the U.S. and across Europe.
As Chris mentioned, systemwide RevPAR was down 18.8% compared to 2019.
Adjusted EBITDA was $519 million in the third quarter, up 132% year-over-year.
Management and franchise fees grew 93%, driven by strong RevPAR improvement and Honors license fees.
For the quarter, diluted earnings per share, adjusted for special items, was $0.78.
Third quarter comparable U.S. RevPAR grew 105% year-over-year and was down 14% versus 2019.
U.S. occupancy averaged nearly 70% for the quarter with overall rate largely in line with 2019 levels.
In the Americas outside the U.S., third quarter RevPAR increased 168% year-over-year and was down 30% versus 2019.
In Europe, RevPAR grew 142% year-over-year and was down 35% versus 2019.
In the Middle East and Africa region, RevPAR increased 110% year-over-year and was down 29% versus 2019.
In the Asia Pacific region, third quarter RevPAR grew 5% year-over-year and was down 41% versus 2019.
RevPAR in China was down 25% as compared to 2019 as a rise in COVID cases led to reimposed restrictions and lockdowns across the country.
China has recovered steadily into October with occupancy nearing 60% for the month.
As Chris mentioned, in the third quarter, we grew net unit 6.6%.
Our pipeline grew sequentially, totaling 404,000 rooms at the end of the quarter with 62% of pipeline rooms located outside the U.S. Development activity continues to gain momentum across the globe as the recovery progresses, a testament to the confidence owners and developers have in our strong commercial engines and industry-leading brands.
For the full year, we now expect signings to increase in the mid- to high teens range year-over-year and expect net unit growth of 5% to 5.5%.
We ended the quarter with $8.9 billion of long-term debt and $1.4 billion in total cash and cash equivalents.
We're proud of the financial flexibility we demonstrated over the past 18 months.

Summary:
During the quarter, systemwide RevPAR grew 98.7% versus the prior year on a comparable and currency-neutral basis as the recovery continued to accelerate, driven by strong leisure demand, particularly in the U.S. and across Europe.
For the quarter, diluted earnings per share, adjusted for special items, was $0.78.