Hilton Worldwide

History

Foundation and early years

In 1919, Conrad Hilton purchased his first hotel, the 40-room Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas, and bought additional Texas hotels as the years passed.

In 1925, the Dallas Hilton became the first hotel to use the Hilton name. In 1927, Hilton expanded to Waco, Texas, where he opened the first hotel with air-conditioning in public areas and cold running water.

In 1943, Hilton assumed management of the Roosevelt Hotel and purchased the Plaza Hotel, both in New York City's Midtown Manhattan neighborhood. With this pair of acquisitions, Hilton became the first hospitality company to span the contiguous United States.

The company was incorporated in 1946 as the Hilton Hotels Corporation and subsequently began public trading of shares on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1947, the Roosevelt Hotel became the first hotel in the world to have televisions in its rooms.

In 1947, Hilton assumed management of the Palacio Hilton hotel in Chihuahua, Mexico, which became the chain's first international property. That same year, they assumed management of four hotels on the island of Bermuda.

Hilton International was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1948, just before the 1949 opening of the Caribe Hilton Hotel in Puerto Rico. Barman Ramon "Monchito" Marreno claimed he created the piña colada cocktail at this resort. Hilton purchased The Waldorf-Astoria in New York in the same year.

Hilton in the 1950s - 1980s

In 1953, Hilton opened its first hotel in Europe, the Castellana Hilton in Madrid, Spain.

The Hotels Statler Company was acquired in 1954 for $111 million in what was then the world's most expensive real estate transaction.

Hilton is credited with several early innovations. In 1954, Hilton created the world's first central reservations office, titled "HILCRON". The reservations team in 1955 consisted of eight members on staff booking reservations for any of Hilton's then 28 hotels. Reservations agents used the "availability board" to track records. The chalkboard measured 30 ft by 6 ft and allowed HILCRON to make over 6,000 reservations in 1955. Bookings could be made for any Hilton via telephone, telegram, or Teletype. Later in 1955, Hilton launched a program to ensure every hotel room would include air conditioning. Hilton is also credited with pioneering the airport hotel concept with the opening of the Hilton Inn at San Francisco International Airport in 1959.

International expansion continued in this era. From 1955 to 1963, Hilton opened hotels in Turkey, Central America, Canada, Africa, Oceania, South America, and Asia.

In 1965, Hilton launched Lady Hilton, the first hotel concept created specifically for women guests. To appeal to female travelers, many properties offered floors occupied by only women along with distinct amenities for their usage.

Between 1970 and 1971, Hilton acquired the International Leisure Company, including the International Hotel and the Flamingo Hotel, which were renamed the Las Vegas Hilton and the Flamingo Hilton. The properties would become the first in the domestic gaming business to be listed on the NYSE.

In 1977, Hilton International opened its first property behind the "Iron Curtain" in Communist Europe, the Budapest Hilton.

In 1979, founder Conrad Hilton died at the age of 91. Hilton Hotels Corporation later created the Conrad Hotels brand in honor of Hilton.

Hilton Honors (formerly Hilton HHonors), the company's guest loyalty program, was initiated in 1987. In 1994, the Honors surpassed competing hotel loyalty programs by offering members both hotel credit points and airline credit miles.

In 1998, Hilton spun off its gambling operations into a separate, publicly held company called Park Place Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment, Inc.) In 1999, Hilton acquired Promus Hotel Corporation, which included the DoubleTree, Red Lion, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites brands.

Two chains with one name

The company spun off its international operations into a separately traded company on December 1, 1964, known as "Hilton International Co." It was acquired in 1967 by Trans World Corp., the holding company for Trans World Airlines.

As a result, there were two separate, fully independent companies operating hotels under the Hilton name. Because the two chains were contractually forbidden to operate hotels in the other's territory under the Hilton name, for many years hotels run by Hilton International in the U.S. were called Vista International Hotels, while hotels operated by the American arm of Hilton outside the U.S. were named Conrad Hotels. Those Hilton Hotels outside the U.S. were, until 2006, styled as "Hilton International" hotels.

In 1986, Hilton International was sold to UAL Corp., the holding company for United Airlines, for $980 million. UAL was reorganized as Allegis Corp. in an attempt to re-incarnate itself as a full-service travel company, encompassing Westin Hotels and Hertz rental cars in addition to Hilton International and United Airlines. In 1987, after a corporate putsch, the renamed Allegis sold Hilton International to Ladbroke Group plc, a British leisure and gambling company, for $1.07 billion. In May 1999, Ladbrokes was reorganized as "Hilton Group plc."

In 1997, to minimize longtime consumer confusion, the American-owned Hilton and British-owned Hilton International companies adopted a joint marketing agreement, under which they shared the same logos, promoted each other's brands, and maintained joint reservation systems. At that point, the Vista chain was phased out, while Conrad was restyled as one of the luxury brands of Hilton, operating hotels within the U.S. and abroad.

21st century

In 2001, Hilton agreed to sell Red Lion to WestCoast Hospitality.

On December 29, 2005, Hilton Hotels Corporation agreed to re-acquire the Hilton International chain from its British owner, Hilton Group plc, for £3.3 billion ($5.71 billion). As well as bringing the two Hilton companies back together as a single entity, this deal also included Hilton plc properties operating as Conrad Hotels, Scandic Hotels, and LivingWell Health Clubs. On February 23, 2006, the deal closed, making Hilton Hotels the world's fifth-largest hotel operator in number of rooms. Scandic Hotels was sold the next year on March 1 to EQT AB.

On July 3, 2007, Hilton Hotels Corp. agreed to an all-cash buyout from the Blackstone Group LP in a $26 billion (including debt) deal that would make Blackstone the world's largest hotel owner. At $47.50 per share, the buyout price was 32 percent higher than the closing value of a share of Hilton stock on July 3. The deal was the culmination of a year of on and off discussions with Blackstone. In October 2007, Christopher J. Nassetta was appointed president and chief executive officer of Hilton. In February 2009, Hilton Hotels Corp. announced that its headquarters were moving from Beverly Hills, California to Fairfax County, Virginia.

While Blackstone saw an opportunity to streamline the company and push Hilton's expansion overseas when Blackstone pursued Hilton in 2006 and 2007, the buyout saddled the company with $20 billion of debt just before the 2008 financial crisis. In April 2010, Hilton and Blackstone restructured the debt with Blackstone invested a further $800 million of equity and the debt was reduced to $16 billion.

Hilton returned to being a public company on December 12, 2013. This second IPO in the company's history raised an estimated $2.35 billion. The Blackstone Group retained a 45.8% stake in the company.

The company announced in February 2016 that Hilton would turn its hotel holdings into a real estate investment trust.

In February 2016, Hilton announced its intention to spin off its timeshare and real estate businesses, creating three independent public companies. The spin-offs of Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations were completed in January 2017. As of 2018, the company is a fully independent publicly traded company after the exits of Blackstone and HNA.

On February 7, 2024, Hilton announced an exclusive partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

On April 3, 2024, Hilton announced its acquisition of a majority controlling interest in Sydell Group, the owner of NoMad Hotels, aiming to expand the luxury lifestyle brand with up to 100 new NoMad hotels globally.

Brands

As of 2025, Hilton Worldwide owns 22 hotel and resort brands in six internal categories:

Luxury

• Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts
• Conrad Hotels
• LXR Hotels & Resorts
• NoMad Hotels

Lifestyle

• Canopy by Hilton
• Curio Collection by Hilton
• Graduate by Hilton
• Tapestry Collection by Hilton
• Tempo by Hilton
• Motto by Hilton

Full Service

• Hilton Hotels & Resorts
• DoubleTree by Hilton

Focused Service

• Hilton Garden Inn
• Hampton by Hilton
• Tru by Hilton
• Spark by Hilton

All Suites

• Embassy Suites by Hilton
• Homewood Suites by Hilton
• Home2 Suites by Hilton
• LivSmart Studios by Hilton

Vacation Ownership

• Hilton Grand Vacations

Franchising

As of February 2024, 6,679 of Hilton's 7,530 hotels and timeshare resorts worldwide are owned and operated by independent franchisees or companies and not by Hilton Worldwide itself, this includes Hilton Grand Vacations which was a division of Hilton Worldwide until it was spun off into a separate company to act as a franchisee for Hilton's timeshare brands. Through this franchising model Hilton Worldwide owns the Hilton hotel and resort brands along with the intellectual property associated with them but does not own nor operate the physical hotels and resorts that bear those brand names. In order to utilize the Hilton brands, the independent franchisees and companies must follow strict brand standards to maintain a licensing agreement with Hilton Worldwide. Many of Hilton's flagship properties, airport properties, and largest resorts, however, are corporately managed.

Corporate affairs

Head offices

The company has its headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, and an operations center in Memphis. Its Asia-Pacific operations are managed out of Singapore, its Middle East and Africa operations are managed out of Dubai, and its European operations are based in Watford, UK.

Loyalty program

Hilton Honors (formerly Hilton HHonors) is Hilton's guest loyalty program, through which frequent guests can accumulate points and airline miles by staying within the Hilton portfolio. The program has approximately 195 million members.{{cite web |title=Hilton Honors Fact Sheet |url=https://stories.hilton.com/hilton-honors-fact-sheet |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=AwardWallet}} Hilton renamed the Hilton HHonors program to Hilton Honors in February 2017.{{Cite web |last=Schlappig |first=Benjamin |date=January 31, 2017 |title=Full Details Of The New Hilton Honors Program |url=http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/01/31/hilton-honors-program-changes/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203012705/http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/01/31/hilton-honors-program-changes/ |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |access-date=February 2, 2017 |website=One Mile At A Time |publisher=Boarding Area}} Recent changes announced in September 2025 include significantly increased redemption point costs at luxury and peak-rate Hilton properties (for example, Waldorf Astoria Maldives rising from 190,000 to 250,000 points per night), limited promotional bonuses for elite statuses, and broader concerns among members that benefits are becoming harder to access without high rates of spending.{{cite web |title=Major Changes in Hilton Honors Points Affect Frequent Flyers |url=https://skyandaviation.com/major-changes-in-hilton-honors-points-affect-frequent-flyers/

Sustainability

Animal welfare

In 2015, Hilton committed to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs by December 31, 2017, and sourcing pork products without gestation crates by December 31, 2018.

Controversies

Lodging of ICE officers

After the killing of Alex Pretti, protesters occupied a Hilton hotel in New York City that protesters believed lodged ICE officers resulting in dozens of arrests.

Hilton in popular culture

• Keith Richards and Mick Jagger performed in the East Penthouse on the 45th floor of the New York Hilton on October 28, 1965.
• On the rotating wheel space station in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a receptionist is shown sitting at the entrance to the Hilton Space Station 5.
• John Lennon and Yoko Ono honeymooned in the presidential suite at the Hilton Amsterdam, where they hosted one of their famous "Bed-Ins" for a full week in 1969.
• In 1971, Diamonds Are Forever was filmed at the Las Vegas Hilton.
• On April 3, 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper made the world's first cell phone call in front of the New York Hilton Midtown. A press conference was held at the hotel later that day to mark the milestone.
• In 1976, during a music tour, Ike and Tina Turner were staying at the Statler Hilton (now the Statler Hotel & Residences) in downtown Dallas when Tina decided to leave Ike. Her moments of getting away from Ike and fleeing the hotel were included in her book I, Tina and in the movie What's Love Got to Do with It.
• The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner was filmed at the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami in 1992. On February 11, 2012, Houston died in her bathtub in Suite 434 of the Beverly Hilton after a drug overdose. Hotel management has since renovated the room.
• In 1995, the James Bond movie GoldenEye was filmed at the Langham Hilton.
• The Insider was filmed in 1999 at the Seelbach Hilton.
• In 2006, several movies including Spider-Man 3, Michael Clayton, and American Gangster were filmed at the New York Hilton.
• Conrad Hilton (played by actor Chelcie Ross) features as a major character in the third season of Mad Men, as lead character Don Draper creates a series of ad campaigns for Hilton Hotels. The Drapers travel during one episode to the Cavalieri Hilton in Rome, though the scenes were actually shot at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.
• Hilton Hotel is featured in Mukoma wa Ngugi's crime fiction novel, Nairobi Heat.

References

References

1. (April 2021). "Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. 2018 Annual Report Q4". Hilton Holdings.
2. (February 6, 2025). "Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]].
3. (December 31, 2020). "Hilton Worldwide Holdings Total Assets".
4. "Board of directors".
5. "SEC-Outline".
6. "History and Heritage – Hilton Worldwide".
7. Sawyer, Amanda. "Roosevelt Hotel". [[Baylor University]].
8. (August 1, 2016). "A (Brief) History of Hilton Innovations". Fast Company.
9. "About Hilton: History & Heritage". Hilton Worldwide.
10. "A History of Firsts". Hilton Hotels and Resorts.
11. "About Hilton: History & Heritage". Hilton Worldwide.
12. Turkel, Stanley. (2009). "Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry". AuthorHouse.
13. (May 24, 1967). "21 Years of Hilton Leadership". Chicago Tribune.
14. "About Hilton: History & Heritage". Hilton Worldwide.
15. "Hilton Hotels, 1947 Annual Report".
16. Hilton Hotels Corporation. "Hilton Hotels, 1949 Annual Report".
17. (November 12, 2012). "The International Hospitality Business: Management and Operations". Routledge.
18. Klein, Christopher. (June 16, 2015). "The Birth of the Piña Colada".
19. (October 6, 2014). "Waldorf Astoria New York to be sold for nearly $2 billion". Chicago Tribune.
20. Glenza, Jessica. (October 6, 2014). "New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel sold to Chinese company for nearly $2bn". The Guardian.
21. "Hilton Hotels, 1953 Annual Report".
22. "History and Heritage – Hilton Worldwide".
23. "Hilton's Pioneering Central Reservations System – Hilton Reservations Worldwide –".
24. Taraborrelli, J. Randy. (April 1, 2014). "The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty". Grand Central Publishing.
25. King, Danny. (October 19, 2016). "Airport hotels have become more than a convenient pit stop". Travel Weekly.
26. Hamblin, Dora Jane. (August 30, 1963). "His Hotels Keep Koreans Hopping in 19 Lands: Instant America".
27. Hilton Hotels Corporation. "Hilton Hotels, 1957 Annual Report".
28. "Hilton Hotels, 1959 Annual Report".
29. Hilton Hotels Corporation. "Hilton Hotels, 1960 Annual Report".
30. Hilton Hotels Corporation. "Hilton Hotels, 1962 Annual Report".
31. (July 5, 1965). "Montana Standard-Post from Butte, Montana on July 5, 1965 · Page 4".
32. (May 2, 1965). "New Design Is Offered for Hotel Rooms". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
33. "Nevada Gaming Abstract – MGM MIRAGE Company Profile".
34. Rothman, Hal. (October 15, 2015). "Neon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century". Routledge.
35. Al, Stefan. (March 10, 2017). "The Strip: Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream". MIT Press.
36. Hilton, Conrad Nicholson. (1957). "Be My Guest". Simon and Schuster.
37. Levy, Alan. (1979-02-25). "An Exploratory Visit To the First Hilton In Communist Europe". The New York Times.
38. Cook, Joan. (January 5, 1979). "Conrad Hilton, Founder of Hotel Chain, Dies at 91". The New York Times.
39. O'Connell, Jonathan. (February 12, 2013). "Hilton said to be in talks for CityCenterDC hotel". The Washington Post.
40. Stone, Madeline. (January 31, 2017). "Hilton just revealed a game-changing update to its rewards program". Business Insider.
41. Collis, Roger. (December 23, 1994). "Don't Lose Expiring Flier Miles". The New York Times.
42. Reynolds, Christopher. (January 30, 1994). "Frequent Fliers May Find Less Turbulence Overseas : Trends: It's getting harder to qualify for free domestic flights, easier to earn foreign freebies.". Los Angeles Times.
43. Thompson, Gary. (September 2, 1999). "Park Place to become world's biggest gaming firm – Las Vegas Sun Newspaper".
44. Petersen, Melody. (September 8, 1999). "Hilton to Buy Promus Chain". The New York Times.
45. "HILTON INTERN. CO., INC. - 888 F.Supp. 520 (1995) – upp52011326 – Leagle.com".
46. (December 24, 1986). "UAL to Buy Hilton International for $980 Million After KLM Cancels Deal".
47. (September 5, 1987). "Ladbroke to Buy Hilton International". The New York Times.
48. Killgren, Lucy. (April 22, 1999). "Name Stake".
49. "Hilton Sells Red Lion, Select Doubletrees To WestCoast".
50. "About Us". LivingWell Health Clubs.
51. "The 2006 Ranking of the Top 10 Hotel Groups Worldwide / April 2006".
52. "www.eqt.se".
53. Louise Story, "Blackstone to Buy Hilton Hotels for $26 Billion," [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/business/04deal.html New York Times, July 4, 2007] {{webarchive. link. (March 18, 2017 .)
54. Weber, Christopher. (July 5, 2016). "Blackstone Group buys Hilton hotels". Bangor Daily News.
55. David Carey & John E. Morris, ''[http://king-of-capital.com/ King of Capital: The Amazing Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone] {{webarchive. link. (January 8, 2011 '' (Crown 2010), pp. 254.)
56. Clausing, Jeri. (November 5, 2016). "Blackstone goes with Nassetta over Hart as Hilton CEO". Northstar Travel Media, LLC.
57. "Hilton Hotels Corporation to move headquarters from Beverly Hills to Fairfax County {{!}} Fairfax County Economic Development Authority".
58. Peter Lattman and Lingling Wei, "Blackstone Reaches Deal to Revamp Hilton's Debt,' ''Wall Street Journal'', February 20, 2010; Hilton Worldwide press release, April 8, 2010; ''King of Capital'', pp. 299–300.
59. Cohan, William. (September 11, 2014). "Blackstone's $26 Billion Hilton Deal: The Best Leveraged Buyout Ever". Bloomberg L.P..
60. "Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. Schedule 14A". Securities and Exchange Commission.
61. Rubin, Liz Hoffman And Richard. "Hilton to Spin Off Hotel Properties Into Real-Estate Investment Trust". The Wall Street Journal.
62. Ajmera, Ankit. (February 26, 2016). "Hilton to spin off real estate, timeshare businesses". Reuters.
63. Bhattarai, Abha. (January 6, 2017). "Hilton completes split into three independent companies". Washington Post.
64. (May 18, 2018). "Blackstone Exits Hilton, Earning $14 Billion After 11 Years".
65. (2024-02-07). "Hilton Partners with Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ To Dramatically Expand Global Luxury Portfolio".
66. O'Neill, Sean. (2024-04-03). "Hilton Takes Control of Sydell Group, Aims to Add 100 NoMad Hotels".
67. "Hilton Brands {{!}} Global Hospitality Company".
68. Karmin, Craig. (November 26, 2013). "Blackstone Books Profit With Hilton Hotels". The Wall Street Journal.
69. "[http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/contact-us/ Contact Us] {{webarchive. link. (2014-08-26 ." Hilton Worldwide. Retrieved on August 17, 2014.)
70. "Hilton Hotels to Ban Cages for Hens and Pigs in Food Supply".
71. Finley, Louis. (January 27, 2026). "Anti-ICE protest inside Tribeca Hilton leads to dozens of arrests".
72. (January 27, 2026). "Dozens Arrested After Anti-ICE Protest at a Manhattan Hilton". The New York Times.
73. (January 27, 2026). "Anti-ICE protest breaks out at Tribeca hotel; at least 40 people arrested: sources".
74. (January 27, 2026). "Anti-ICE protesters arrested after NYC hotel lobby takeover: Police".
75. Ocomartun, Ronan. (January 27, 2026). "Thousands of New Yorkers gather in Union Square Park over the weekend to protest ICE".
76. "50 Years: New York Hilton Midtown". Hilton.
77. (April 3, 1968). "2001: A Spacy Odyssey". [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]].
78. Novak, Matt. (November 18, 2014). "What happened to Hilton's 'hotel on the Moon'?".
79. Adler, Margot. (August 25, 2009). "After 40 Years, The Bed-In Reawakens". NPR.
80. Lawrence, Christopher. (November 4, 2015). "When James Bond came to Las Vegas". [[Las Vegas Review-Journal]].
81. Kennedy, Pagan. (March 15, 2013). "Who Made That Cellphone?". The New York Times.
82. Cheng, Roger. "The first call from a cell phone was made 40 years ago today". [[CBS Interactive]].
83. Runtagh, Jordan. (October 26, 2017). "Tina Turner Recalls the Night She Risked Her Life to Flee Her Abusive Husband—and Musical Partner—Ike". People.
84. Tyehimba, Cheo. (August 2, 1996). "Tina Turner left Ike 20 years ago".
85. Diaz, Johnny. (October 31, 2017). "'The Bodyguard,' shot at Fontainebleau Miami Beach, turns 25". [[Sun-Sentinel]].
86. Duran, Jose D.. (February 14, 2012). "The Bodyguard: Whitney Houston's Moment Under the Miami Sun". [[Miami New Times]].
87. Kennedy, Garrick. (February 8, 2013). "What will happen to the room Whitney Houston died in?". [[Los Angeles Times]].
88. (March 22, 2012). "Coroner: Drowning, heart disease, cocaine use killed Houston". CNN.
89. Smith, Mark. (November 9, 2012). "Where to Vacation Like James Bond".
90. Mourby, Adrian. (November 2, 2017). "Rooms with a View: The Secret Life of Great Hotels". Icon Books.
91. Pfeuffer, Charyn. (January 27, 2008). "Bourbon, barbecue and a taste of history in Louisville". [[New Haven Register]].
92. O'Leary, Noreen. (November 9, 2009). "'Up in the Air' Grounds Hilton in Star-Power Marketing". [[Adweek]].
93. Landau, David. (July 10, 2014). "Lighting for Cinematography: A Practical Guide to the Art and Craft of Lighting for the Moving Image". A&C Black.
94. "Hilton New York".
95. Galehouse, Maggie. (October 11, 2009). "Mad Men nails its history". [[Houston Chronicle]].
96. (October 9, 2011). "Rome on film". [[Orange County Register]].
97. Villarreal, Yvonne. (March 26, 2015). "'Mad Men's' final premiere event is a grand affair". Los Angeles Times.