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Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Industry Hotel
Founded 1919
Founder(s) Conrad Hilton
Number of
locations
540 hotels[1]
Area served Global
Key people Rob Palleschi, Division Head
Parent Hilton Worldwide
Website hilton.com
(http://www.hilton.com)
The Hilton San Diego Bayfront
The Hilton Durban
Hilton Hotels & Resorts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Hilton Hotel" redirects here. For the parent
company, see Hilton Worldwide. For other uses,
see Hilton Hotel (disambiguation).
Hilton Hotels & Resorts
[2]
(formerly known as Hilton
Hotels) is an international chain of full service hotels and
resorts, it is the flagship brand of Hilton Worldwide. The
original company was founded by Conrad Hilton and is
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. As of 2010, there are now over 530 Hilton
branded hotels across the world in 78 countries across six
continents.
Contents
1 Overview
2 Historic incidents
3 References
4 External links
Overview
The Hilton Hotels brand
remains one of the
company's flagship brands
and one of the largest hotel
brands in the world. The
company places marketing
emphasis on both business
travel and leisure travel with
locations in major city
centers, near airports,
convention centers, and a
number of vacation 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
[3]
and has numerous partnerships with airlines and
car rental companies. Some Hilton Hotels feature an Executive Level
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The historic Capital Hilton hotel in
Washington, D.C., originally a Statler
Hotel
The Amsterdam Hilton hotel in
Apollobuurt, Amsterdam
lounge for HHonors Gold and Diamond members and those willing to pay for Executive Rooms. The lounge is
normally located on the highest floor of the hotel building. In addition to Hilton Hotels, the Hilton HHonors
membership can also be used at all other Hilton Worldwide brands.
The U.S. branch of Hilton hotels was reunited with the international properties after more than 40 years in
February 2006, when United States-based Hilton Hotels Corporation purchased the hotels division of United
Kingdom-based Hilton Group plc, which had acquired Hilton's International operations in 1987 (the companies
had been separated originally in 1964).
[4]
Historic incidents
Founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton. Hilton bought his first
hotel, the Mobley Hotel, in 1919 in Cisco, Texas.
[5]
The first hotel to bear the Hilton name was the Dallas Hilton, a
high-rise that opened in Dallas, Texas in 1925.
[6]
In 1949, at the Caribe Hilton Hotel's Beachcomber Bar in San
Juan, Puerto Rico, Ramon "Monchito" Marrero created the
Pia Colada.
[7]
In 1954, Hilton hotels bought the Statler Hotel chain, making it
the largest hospitality company in the world.
The Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago figured prominently in the
1968 Democratic Convention riots that occurred across the
street in Grant Park. 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 Lennon and Yoko Ono held their first Bed-In for Peace
between March 25 and March 31, 1969 at the Amsterdam
Hilton in Room 902. This room became a popular tourist
destination.
[8]
On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper made the world's first
handheld cellular phone call in public when he called Joel S.
Engel at the New York Hilton with a 2 pound Motorola
DynaTAC phone.
[9]
The Beirut Hilton finished construction and was supposed to open on April 14, 1975. However, the
Lebanese Civil War 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.
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On 13 February 1978, the Sydney Hilton Hotel was the site of one of the few terrorist incidents on
Australian soil, when a bomb blast killed 3 people (2 council workers and a policeman).
The Hilton Nicosia in Nicosia, Cyprus, 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 Airways DC-8 at Larnaca Airport led to the Egyptian raid on
Larnaca International Airport by Egyptian forces. The intervention by the Egyptians led to the
deterioration of relations between Cyprus and Egypt.
The Amsterdam Hilton hotel has had two more notable incidents. On June 27, 1991, Dutch drug kingpin
Klaas Bruinsma, once a major drug dealer of Europe, was assassinated in front of the building. On July
11, 2001, Dutch artist Herman Brood committed suicide by jumping from the roof.
[10]
In 2009, the company relocated its global headquarters from Beverly Hills, California to Tysons Corner,
Virginia.
[11]
In 2009 Hilton opened Canada's tallest hotel at 58 stories in Niagara Falls, Ontario
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.
[12]
On February 11, 2012, multi-Grammy Award winning singer Whitney Houston drowned in the bathtub
of room 434 at the Beverly Hills Hilton.
In July 2012, tightrope walker Jay Cochrane walked from the Skylon Tower to the top of the Hilton in
Niagara Falls, Ontario
In March 2013, Hilton announced that it would be entering Myanmar for the first time with the
construction a 300-room hotel in Yangon.
[13]
References
1. ^ "Hilton hotels and resorts" (http://www3.hilton.com/en/destinations/index.html?
cid=OM,HH,Regional,MainRedirect). Hilton Worldwide. 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
2. ^ Refreshed Hilton Hotels & Resorts Brand Identity Emphasizes Leisure Portfolio
(http://www.hiltonglobalmediacenter.com/index.cfm?md=newsroom&tmp=detail&articleID=852).
3. ^ "Hilton to promote overhauled loyalty scheme" (http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/travel-and-
leisure/hilton-to-promote-overhauled-loyalty-scheme/3023487.article). Marketing Week. 16 February 2011.
4. ^ "Hilton Hotels Corporation Press Office" (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=88577&p=irol-
newsArticleOther&ID=799397&highlight) (Press release). Retrieved 2009-04-03.
5. ^ Conrad N. Hilton Foundation v1.0 (http://www.hiltonfoundation.org/main.asp?id=51).
6. ^ http://www.hotel-dalla s.com/history/history.html
7. ^ "Celebrate Two of Mankind's Greatest Inventions" (http://hotels.about.com/b/2004/08/13/celebrate-two-of-
mankinds-greatest-inventions.htm). Hotels.about.com. 2004-08-13. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
8. ^ Newell, Martin (March 19, 1999). "Independent on Sunday" (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-
entertainment/music-lyric-sheets-room-902-amsterdam-hilton-march-1969-1081543.html). The Independent
(London). Retrieved 2009-04-05.
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External links
Hilton web site (http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/brand/about.jhtml)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hilton_Hotels_%26_Resorts&oldid=603436738"
Categories: Companies established in 1919 Hotel chains
Companies based in Los Angeles County, California OpenTravel Alliance Hilton Hotels & Resorts hotels
Blackstone Group companies Hilton Worldwide
This page was last modified on 9 April 2014 at 11:50.
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9. ^ "Martin Cooper Inventor of the cellphone" (http://www.cellular.co.za/cellphone_inventor.htm).
Cellular.co.za. 1973-04-03. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
10. ^ Nichols, Natalie (October 11, 2007). "Los Angeles Times" (http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/11/news/wk-
pop11). Retrieved 2009-04-05.
11. ^ Hospitality Net. "Hilton Hotels Corporation Opens New Global Headquarters in Fairfax County, Va"
(http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4042727.search?query=hilton+fairfax+headquarters).
Hospitalitynet.org. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
12. ^ "Hilton Hotels & Resorts debuts new brand identity" (http://www.hospitalityworldnetwork.com/hilton/hilton-
hotels-resorts-debuts-new-brand-identity-8880). Hospitality World Network. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
13. ^ Maierbrugger, Arno (2 April 2013). "Hilton to open first hotel in Myanmar" (http://investvine.com/hilton-to-
open-first-hotel-in-myanmar/). Inside Investor. Retrieved 2 April 2013.