Hilton Announces Third Major UK Deal

-- Hotels, 6/11/2008 9:39:00 AM

LONDON UK, 11 June 2008 – Hilton Hotels Corp. has signed its latest major strategic development alliance in the UK with HLH Property Ltd. The agreement will see HLH working with Hilton to introduce up to 30 new hotels comprising around 4,000 rooms in the next five years.

This represents the third major UK hotel deal with a leading property partner for Hilton since it declared the intention to grow its family of brands internationally.

The agreement is expected to predominantly focus on Hampton by Hilton™ properties – Hilton’s “new kind of economy hotel” brand offering consistency and comfort for business and leisure travellers alike.

Speaking at the World Economy and Budget Hotels Congress in London today, Phil Cordell, Senior Vice President of Brand Management for Hampton said: “We are delighted with the positive response to Hampton by Hilton internationally and are very excited about working with HLH Property Ltd to gain further momentum for the brand in the UK and Ireland.

“We expect our success in the US to filter through internationally and for Hampton by Hilton to become the UK’s number one economy hotel choice in the future, delivering value for both business and leisure travellers.”

Simon Vincent, Area President of Hilton UK & Ireland said: “Our development pipeline has gained significant momentum over the past year and this agreement with HLH heralds another landmark moment Hilton’s UK and Ireland growth.

“Having already announced substantial alliances with Shiva and Somerston, representing a total of 40 new hotels, this latest deal with HLH highlights our continued ambition to accelerate our expansion plans through the Hilton Family of Brands. Significantly, the sites we are reviewing with HLH do not generally compete with the many other locations where we are in negotiations with other developers and franchisees.”

HLH is a company jointly owned and controlled by David Jason and the Selby family. The stakeholders have collectively over 50 years of real estate experience and have primarily specialised in development across numerous sectors, including hotels. With a disciplined development approach and creative and technical expertise HLH has positioned itself well, to expand within the dynamic hotel sector.

Numerous hotel sites have already been identified across the UK and Ireland thanks to HLH’s strong partnerships with major landowners, and several contracts are close to being signed.

Harvey Selby, Chairman of HLH, said: "We see this as a unique opportunity to maximise market penetration as a developer in a sector with great potential, hand in hand with one of the world’s premier hotel operators.”

Hampton by Hilton is heralded as a new kind of economy hotel with key brand attributes including complimentary high-speed Internet access, complimentary On the House hot breakfast® and complimentary On the Run™ breakfast bags available on weekdays and the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

Separate to the HLH deal, Hilton currently has 13 new hotel sites (2563 rooms) being developed across its family of brands in the UK and expects to add more shortly. Ground has been broken this month for the first Hampton by Hilton, which will open in Corby North in 2009.