Hilton readies for aggressive brand growth

Asia Pacific - Hilton Hotels Corporation has unveiled its plan for a multi-brand expansion strategy across Asia Pacific in a bid to build brand awareness among travellers in Asia.

The corporation has also focused on revamping its Hilton product in terms of design and style, and launched a new brand campaign tagged ‘Travel should take you places' to convey the Hilton brand promise of providing an innovative and supportive experience for guests.

The company is aiming to introduce three brands from its Hilton Family portfolio to Asia Pacific - the Doubletree, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn - as part of the company's expansion plan to open 1,000 new hotels outside of North America in 10 years with 300 of them to be based in Asia Pacific. The rest will be based in Europe and the Middle East.

"Asia's travel industry has taken off in recent years, particularly the short-haul and domestic travel markets which are estimated to make up some 80% of all travel within Asia today. Key growth markets India and China are poised to boom both domestically and as emerging source markets for the rest of the region. Brand preference and loyalty will be a key factor in ensuring our success," Koos Klein, president, Hilton Hotels Asia Pacific said.

In China, the company has signed management contracts to operate Doubletree-branded hotels in Tianjin, Beijing and Junshan, as well as a Conrad hotel in Shanghai, and Hilton hotels in Dongguan, Taiyuan and Chongqing. Additionally, Hilton Hotels Corporation signed an alliance with RREEF (the real estate and infrastructure investment management arm of the Deutsche Bank Group) and private equity firm H&Q Asia Pacific in December 2006 to acquire, develop and convert sites for the Hilton Garden Inn brand.

"China is becoming the main source market for intra-regional while its domestic travel has grown exponentially over the last five years, more than doubling to 1.5 billion domestic travellers this year. We are taking advantage of the burgeoning demand for mid-market accommodation across China as we look to grow in primary and secondary cities," Klein said.

As reported in Marketing's November 2006 issue, the company appointed Andrew Flack to the role of VP sales and marketing Asia Pacific. Flack is tasked with new hotel positioning and openings as well as overseeing the sales and marketing strategies for Hilton and Conrad hotels in the region.