Search

×

Track history through Hilton’s 100-year archive

Hotel history: Hilton is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and, of course, the world’s second biggest hotel company is making hay promoting its many milestones. From Conrad Hilton’s original vision to create a meaningful hotel brand, to opening in 1958 the famed Habana Hilton, a 25-floor tower in Havana, Cuba, with more than 500 rooms and a casino, which a year later became the headquarters for Fidel Castro’s revolution and renamed the Hotel Hababa Libre, to modern day achievements like the introduction of the Connected Room and Digital Key, the company is diving into its archive to examine history. It’s fun to look how far the hotel industry has come and over the years Hilton has helped shape the global hotel industry.Jeff Weinstein

Conrad Hilton opens the Havana Hilton in 1958
Conrad Hilton opens the Havana Hilton in 1958

Safety matters more: If you are at all cavalier about your safety and security measures consider MMGY Global’s recent surveyed 2,304 U.S. adults that determined significantly more respondents this year compared to last indicated that they find safety of the destination to be a desirable vacation feature (from 85% to 88%). Of the U.S. adults surveyed, 28% indicated they are less interested in traveling internationally now than they were this time last year. The reasons most cited are that they would feel less safe in international destinations (36%), and they would rather visit more U.S. destinations (29%). The integrated marketing company added that significantly more older generations feel this way compared to Millennials.—J.W.

Take a pass on this: What’s smaller than a staycation? A daycation. If you don’t want to leave town, but you want to stay at a hotel except for booking an actual guestroom, more hotels are offering day passes for individuals and families to avail themselves of the amenities without having to pack an overnight bag. Many of the North American hotels listed in USA Today’s story offer passes that could reach a couple hundred dollars – perhaps making guests reconsider why they wouldn’t just fork out the extra cash and put their head in a bed.Barbara Bohn  

Clooney hasn’t won yet. Early in the week, the sultan of Brunei announced that his tiny oil-rich country would put a moratorium on a law that imposes the death penalty to those convicted of having gay sex – a move apparently designed to call off the boycott of his Dorchester Collection hotels. (Apparently they can still be fined, whipped or jailed.) According to CNN, the sultan noted that there had been “a number of ‘misconceptions’ about the laws” and that once those have been cleared up, the “merits” would be obvious. That’s debatable. Meanwhile, the instigator of the boycott, American actor George Clooney, says he’ll continue to avoid the hotels. “For my family and me, we simply can’t walk away until this draconian law is no longer on the books,” he said in a statement.—B.B.

Comment