Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #44

Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport #44
2019 Autumn Edition 19
19
The Conrad Hangzhou Tonglu hotel, China
RECORD-BREAKING YEAR
FOR HILTON LUXURY
Announcement by Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta confirms 2019
is company’s biggest ever year for luxury hotel openings.
This summer, Chris Nassetta, President and CEO, Hilton, announced that
the company is on track to open more luxury properties in 2019 than in any
previous year of its 100-year history.
This expansion has been a decade in the
making. When Nassetta took over as
President and CEO in 2007 he prioritised
luxury and re-focused the company’s
business strategy around organic growth.
Identifying two key areas for improvement
- refining the two core luxury brands at the
time, Waldorf Astoria and Conrad, and
bringing the brands to diversified markets
– has brought the company to this year of
record-breaking growth, which also saw
Hilton identify a gap among independent
luxury hotels and launch LXR, its third
luxury brand.
In addition to four openings earlier in
2019, there are seven hotels expected to
open by year end across its luxury brands.
Hilton’s current and projected luxury
openings in 2019, which join the 65
existing luxury properties, include: Waldorf
Astorias in Dubai, Los Cabos Pedregal and
Maldives Ithaafushi; Conrads in Hangzhou,
New York Midtown, Shenyang, Tianjin
and Washington, DC; and The Biltmore,
Mayfair in London and Zemi Beach House
Resort & Spa in Anguilla under the LXR
brand.
As part of Nassetta’s strategy of organic
growth, Hilton’s luxury development team
has been working with ownership groups
to select markets and tailor the respective
brand’s presence. Over the past decade,
Hilton and its partners expanded the
luxury category’s global presence from 15
to 29 countries and territories, and they
are continuing to grow the portfolio with
a finely curated pipeline of more than 30
signings that are diverse in regions and
market-types. Hilton has also increased
investment in its luxury residential portfolio,
which now includes more than 2,800 units
across 22 properties. As well as expansion,
improvements have been an area of focus.
The Waldorf Astoria hotels in New York
and Las Vegas, as well as the Conrad in
Miami, are among Hilton luxury properties
undergoing substantial renovations to
upgrade design and enhance the onproperty
experience. Meanwhile, on 18
October, Hilton announced the opening of
Conrad Hangzhou Tonglu, a new hillside
resort with 79 spacious suites, including
11 villas. The hotel offers a natural haven
nestled beside the picturesque Fenshui
Tianxi Lake in Tonglu.
This record-breaking year of 11 openings
marks the beginning of impressive
momentum for Hilton’s luxury category
and stems from more than a decade
of strategic investments and planning.
Following this year’s openings, Hilton’s
luxury pipeline includes more than 30
properties, approximately 25 of which are
expected to open through 2025