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Hilton Hotels Corporation

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Hilton Hotels Corporation
Hilton Hotels Logo
Type Public (NYSE: HLT)
Founded Cisco, Texas
Location Beverly Hills, California
Key people Barron Hilton, Chairman
Industry Hotels
Products Hotels
Revenue $3.853 billion USD (2003)
Employees 70,000
Website Hilton Hotels
 

Hilton Hotels Corporation NYSE: HLT operates several brands of hotels and is headquarted in Beverly Hills, California. It was founded by Conrad Hilton in Cisco, Texas. Aiming to offer top class service to its guests, Hilton has become a leader in the hospitality industry, setting new benchmarks with its hotels and use of technology.

The company is around 5% owned by the founding family.

History

The original company, founded in 1919, separated its international operations into a separate traded company on December 1, 1964. Subsequently, Trans World Corp., the holding company for Trans World Airlines, acquired Hilton International Co. in 1967. In 1986, UAL Corp., the holding company for United Airlines acquired Hilton International Co. from Trans World and changed its name to Allegis Corp. as it attempted to re-incarnate itself as a full service travel company encompassing Westin Hotels and Hertz rental cars in addition to Hilton International and United. In 1987 after a corporate putsch, the newly renamed UAL Corp. sold Hilton International to Ladbroke Group, a British leisure and gambling company, which in May 1999 adopted the new moniker Hilton Group plc.

As a result, there have been two separate, fully independent companies operating hotels under the Hilton name. Those Hiltons outside the US were, until recently, styled as Hilton International hotels. In addition, for many years hotels run by the Hilton Group in the US were called Vista International Hotels, while hotels operated by the American arm of Hilton outside the US were named Conrad Hotels. The Vista chain has been phased out, while Conrad is now restyled as the luxury brand of Hilton and operates hotels within the US, as well as abroad. To minimize consumer confusion, the American and British Hilton companies have, for the last few years, had a joint marketing agreement under which they share the same logos, promote each other's brands and maintained joint reservation systems.

On December 29, 2005 Hilton Hotels Corporation agreed to re-acquire Hilton International along with its Conrad Hotels, Scandic Hotels and LivingWell Health Clubs affiliates from British-based Hilton Group (FTSE:HG) for GBP 3.30 billion (or $5.71 billion) bringing the two groups back together. Hilton Group will re-assume the name Ladbroke Group plc. When the deal closes, Hilton Hotels will become the world's largest hotelier surpassing Intercontinental Hotels

The Waldorf=Astoria Collection was announced on January 17, 2005 as a new Luxury Brand.

Hilton brands

Quick Facts

Hilton's loyalty program, HHonors, is unique in that it allows travelers to accumulate both points toward future stays or upgrades at Hilton hotels and airline miles on selected airlines. HHonors markets this feature under the slogan "Double Dipping", and it is the only hotel loyalty program to do so.

External links


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