Hilton Hotels Corporation
| Hilton Hotels Corporation |
 |
| Type |
Public (NYSE: HLT) |
| Founded |
 Cisco, Texas, USA |
| Headquarters |
Beverly Hills, California, USA |
| Key people |
Barron Hilton, Co-Chairman / Stephen Bollenbach, Chairman & CEO / Matt Hart, President & COO |
| Industry |
Hotels |
| Revenue |
$3.853 billion USD (2003) |
| Employees |
105,000 |
| Website |
Hilton Hotels Corporation |
Hilton Hotels Corporation headquarters in Beverly Hills
Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT) is one of the leading global hospitality companies. As of April 2007 there are 2,645 hotels and 485,000 rooms employing 105,000 people in more than 80 countries. The company owns, manages or franchises a portfolio of brands, including Hilton, Conrad, Coral by Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Homewood Suites by Hilton, and The Waldorf-Astoria Collection. It was founded by Conrad Hilton in Cisco, Texas and now has headquarters in Beverly Hills, California.
Aiming to offer top class service to its guests, Hilton has become a leader in the hospitality industry. The company is around 5% owned by the founding family.
History
The original company was founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton.
The Hotels Statler Company was acquired in 1954 for $111,000,000 in what was then the world's largest real estate transaction.
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 plc, a British leisure and gambling company, which in May 1999 adopted the 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 one of the luxury brands of Hilton (along with The Waldorf-Astoria Collection) and operates hotels within the US, as well as abroad. To minimize consumer confusion, the American and British Hilton companies, 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.
In 1971, Hilton acquired International Leisure Company, acquiring the Las Vegas Hilton and Flamingo Hilton with the purchase.
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 for GBP 3.30 billion (or $5.71 billion) bringing the two groups back together. Hilton Group then re-assumed the name Ladbroke Group plc. On Feburary 23, 2006, the deal closed, making Hilton Hotels the world's fifth largest hotel operator in number of rooms .
The Waldorf=Astoria Collection was announced on January 17, 2005 as a new Luxury Brand.
On March 1, 2007, Scandic Hotels was sold to EQT V Group.
