FEATURE: HILTON WORLDWIDE
“Our goal was to create something
HAMPTON BY HILTON CROYDON
right next door to our headquarters that was indicative of what we were trying to do around the world,” says Traxler. “We invested $40 million of our own capital in that and we’re all excited about the strength of what has developed there. It’s a really strong, clean statement about the guestroom design, about the public areas and how they should work, about how logical circulation flow within a guest stay should be leveraged and built upon. By invigorating and breathing energy into the lobby and incorporating an 18- hour bar that transforms over the course of the day, we’ve seen food and beverage sales increase by over 200%. Those kind of swings are compelling stories to other owners. They can see not only a design methodology shift but a real return on their investment shift.” “Sometimes, owners think of internal
brand design teams as a hurdle in the way to their success when in reality, we’re a value add proposition. If they embrace everything that we’re trying to do globally and we achieve a lot more consistency with the brand then it becomes a major culture shift.” Whilst some of the new design initiatives
Since its introduction to Europe in 2009, Hampton by Hilton has seen rapid growth in Europe with a portfolio which now spans 13 hotels in four European countries – the UK, Germany, Poland and Turkey. The first Hampton by Hilton in the UK opened in Corby and was followed by further additions in locations such as Liverpool, Newport and Derby. Hampton by Hilton London Croydon – the first Hampton by Hilton in the Greater Lon- don area – launched in March 2012. The hotel brings Hilton Worldwide’s UK portfolio to more than 100 hotels, with a further 20 hotels due to open in the next three years. Other new additions to the Hampton by Hilton UK portfolio include the recently opened Hampton by Hilton St. George’s Park, Burton-Upon-Trent, part of the Football Association’s new national foot- ball training centre, and Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo which is expected to open by the end of 2013.
have been tested out in physical properties, the company is also embracing virtual technology with a new online tool known as ‘Hilton Design Studio’. “Our intention is that this is an open
platform for anybody that is an owner, a consultant or a developer who is interested in finding out more about Hilton – what our brand statement is and what our design statement is,” says Traxler. The portal will give access to “what
probably amounts to well over $1 million of thought process in how to approach guestroom design, how to approach the lobby design, how to approach executive lounges. This will become a platform for everything related to the Hilton brand, in terms of design. It will be a one-stop immersion location where you can go in and learn in a variety of ways about what we’re trying to do.” There are plans to also upload the design narratives for the other Hilton Worldwide brands, so that the design studio becomes a platform to understand the differences between them. Traxler hopes this will save a lot of time in
038 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2012
WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM
trying to explain the brands to third parties: “As we try to embrace local, regional design consultants who may not be familiar with our brands, we currently have to run through a whole immersion exercise with them. This is an attempt to get that information out there ahead of time.” Presumably a lot of time and expense
in holding meetings, presentations and conference calls will be saved? “Yes, and developers’ time and money in having their design consultants go down the wrong path with schemes that are not going to be something that we’ll embrace as a brand.”
Traxler admits that the process of
turning around the ‘big ship’ that is Hilton Worldwide’s global portfolio is a challenging one: “We’re fighting on a lot of different fronts. With roughly 900 hotels in the global pipeline, keeping up with all the new builds is a challenge but we have a fairly disciplined process in place. There are projects that come in at late periods of development, maybe they were being developed under a different brand or without any brand or any operator in mind, where we have to scramble at the last minute and try to morph it into our culture and to make sure that it makes sense as a Waldorf Astoria, a Conrad or a Hilton. But for the most part, the construction projects are more straightforward.” More complex he says, is the process
of renovating the existing managed and franchised hotels. “We have properties which we own, and leased properties which we control. Those are relatively easy projects as we control all the levers: the consultant hiring, the schedule, the budget. That’s where we’ve seen the most pronounced turning of the ship in terms of renovations and being able to make a significant change within specific hotels.” The greatest area of opportunity for the
future, he believes is to start impacting “the owners, the capex that lies outside of our own estate, and lies outside of newbuilds. That gives us an opportunity to transform the face of Hilton Worldwide dramatically and quickly through renovations.” “We have franchisees and owners that
may not stay in close connection with the brand communications, and that may not
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204