Hilton Hotels
Encyclopedia
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s and resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
s founded by Conrad Hilton
Conrad Hilton
Conrad Nicholson Hilton was an American businessman and investor. He is well known for being the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain.-Early life:Hilton was born in San Antonio, New Mexico...
and now owned by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton hotels are either owned by, managed by, or franchised to independent operators by Hilton Worldwide. Hilton Hotels became the first coast-to-coast hotel chain of the United States in 1943. , there are now over 530 Hilton branded hotels across the world in 78 countries across six continents.
Overview
The company places marketing emphasis on business travelBusiness travel
Business travel is the practice of people traveling for purposes related to their work. It is on the rise especially with foreign business markets opening up...
, but also owns and operates a number of resorts and leisure-oriented hotels in popular vacation destinations around the world. The company's Hilton HHonors guest loyalty program is one of the largest of its kind and has numerous partnerships with airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
s and car rental
Car rental
A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...
companies. The company's global headquarters are located in Tysons Corner, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
The U.S. branch of Hilton hotels was reunited with the international properties after more than 40 years in February 2006, when United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-based Hilton Hotels Corporation purchased the hotels division of United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based Hilton Group plc, which had acquired Hilton's International operations in 1987 (the companies had been separated originally in 1964).
Historic highlights
- Founded in 1919 by Conrad HiltonConrad HiltonConrad Nicholson Hilton was an American businessman and investor. He is well known for being the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain.-Early life:Hilton was born in San Antonio, New Mexico...
. Hilton bought his first hotel, the Mobley Hotel, in 1919 in Cisco, TexasCisco, TexasCisco is a city in Eastland County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,851 at the 2000 census.-History:Conrad Hilton started the Hilton Hotel chain with a single hotel bought in Cisco. Hilton came to Cisco to buy a bank, but the bank cost too much; so he purchased the Mobley Hotel in 1919...
. - The first hotel to bear the Hilton name was the Dallas HiltonDallas HiltonThe Dallas Hilton, also known as Hilton Hotel and today operating as the Dallas Hotel Indigo, is a historic structure located at the corner of Main Street and S. Harwood Street in downtown Dallas, Texas . The hotel is a contributing property in the Harwood Historic District and Main Street District...
, a high-rise that opened in Dallas, TexasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
in 1925. - In 1949, at the Caribe Hilton HotelCaribe Hilton HotelThe Caribe Hilton Hotel, located in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is one of the best-known hotels in the Caribbean. It was the first facility ever operated by Hilton Hotels outside of the continental United States....
's Beachcomber Bar in San Juan, Puerto RicoSan Juan, Puerto RicoSan Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, Ramon "Monchito" Marrero created the Piña ColadaPiña ColadaThe piña colada is a sweet, rum-based cocktail made with rum, cream of coconut, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice. It may be garnished with a pineapple wedge or a maraschino cherry or both...
. - In 1954, Hilton hotels bought the Statler HotelStatler HotelThe Statler Hotel company was one of the United States' early chains of hotels catering to traveling businessmen and tourists. It was founded by Ellsworth Milton Statler in Buffalo, New York.- Early ventures :...
chain, making it the largest hospitality company in the world. - The Conrad Hilton Hotel in ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
figured prominently in the 1968 Democratic Convention riots that occurred across the street in Grant ParkGrant Park (Chicago)Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...
. The hotel's doors were locked for the first time in its history. The hotel still suffered minor damage as a result of the violence outside as the street level windows gave way under the weight of hundreds of protesters on the street during the ensuing riot. - John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and Yoko OnoYoko Onois a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
held their first Bed-In for PeaceBed-InDuring the Vietnam War, in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held two week-long Bed-Ins for Peace in Amsterdam and Montreal, which were their non-violent ways of protesting wars and promoting peace...
between March 25 and March 31, 1969 at the Amsterdam HiltonAmsterdam Hilton HotelThe Amsterdam Hilton Hotel is a five star hotel in Apollobuurt, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. It is located at Apollolaan 138 along the Noorder Amstelkanaal, a canal connected to the Amstel river. The hotel opened officially in 1962 and is a branch of the Hilton Hotels chain...
in Room 902. This room became a popular tourist destination. - On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper made the world's first handheld cellular phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
call in public when he called Joel S. EngelJoel S. EngelJoel S. Engel is an American engineer, known for fundamental contributions to the development of cellular networks.Born in New York City, he obtained a B.Sc. in engineering at City College of New York...
at the New York Hilton with a 2 pound Motorola DynaTACMotorola DynaTACDynaTAC is a series of cellular telephones manufactured by Motorola, Inc. from 1983 to 1994. With several different models, plus newer models under the Classic and Ultra Classic names, it was the first line of cell phones commercially produced by Motorola, with the first member of the DynaTAC...
phone.
- The Beirut Hilton finished construction and was supposed to open on April 14, 1975. However, the Lebanese Civil WarLebanese Civil WarThe Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
erupted exactly one day before the Grand Opening date on April 13. The hotel was never opened and was severely damaged during the war. The building was demolished in the late 1990s. In the 2000s, work on a completely separate Hilton Beirut Hotel was begun nearby, but it was never completed. - The Hilton Nicosia in Nicosia, CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, was the scene of the assassination of Youssef Sebai, an Egyptian newspaper editor and friend of Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat, on February 19, 1978. The assassination and the hijacking of a Cyprus AirwaysCyprus AirwaysCyprus Airways is the national airline of Cyprus, a public limited company with its head offices located in the capital of the island, Nicosia. It operates scheduled services to 41 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and the Gulf. It flies from both airports of the island, Larnaca and Paphos,...
DC-8 at Larnaca Airport led to the Egyptian raid on Larnaca International AirportEgyptian raid on Larnaca International AirportOn 19 February 1978, Egyptian forces raided Larnaca International Airport near Larnaca, Cyprus in an attempt to intervene in a hijacking situation. Earlier, two assassins had killed prominent Egyptian newspaper editor Youssef Sebai and then rounded up several Arabs who were attending a convention...
by Egyptian forces. The intervention by the Egyptians led to the deterioration of relations between Cyprus and EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. - The AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
Hilton hotel has had two more notable incidents. On June 27, 1991, DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
drug kingpin Klaas BruinsmaKlaas Bruinsma (drug lord)Klaas Bruinsma was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland...
, once a major drug dealer of Europe, was assassinated in front of the building. On July 11, 2001, Dutch artist Herman BroodHerman BroodHermanus "Herman" Brood was a Dutch musician, painter and media personality. Initially a musician who achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and called "the Netherlands' greatest and only rock 'n' roll star," later in life he became a well-known painter.Known for his...
committed suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by jumping from the roof. - In 2009, the company relocated its global headquarters from Beverly Hills, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to Tysons Corner, VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. - In 2010, Hilton's three hotels in MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
were among those revealed in a report in which hotel workers said they are subjected to punishing workloads, missing wages, intimidation and bullying. The managers of the three hotels had been asked to sign a pledge to end such practices, but initially refused. They eventually agreed to the pledge in April 2011. - In late 2010, Hilton Worldwide announced a name change of the Hilton Hotels brand to Hilton Hotels & Resorts along with a new logo design as part of a rebranding effort for the flagship brand.