DoubleTree by Hilton has announced that through Q4 2012, it had added 49 hotels to its portfolio in one year, and that it expects to meet or exceed that pace in 2013 with both new-build and conversion hotels in the development pipeline. Leading the brand’s growth are conversion projects, located predominantly in the Americas and Europe.“2012 was another in what we’re confident will be a number of consecutive milestone years for DoubleTree by Hilton,” said John Greenleaf, global head, DoubleTree by Hilton. “Since 2007, we have grown the brand by more than 70 percent to become the fastest-growing, full service brand in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio and one of the fastest-growing within the upscale, full-service segment. We credit this success to a number of factors, including our brand restructuring with the addition of the ’by Hilton‘ endorsement to our name and the positive performance of Hilton Worldwide around the globe.”
Greenleaf added, “Ultimately, what drives our growth is the confidence our owners have in DoubleTree by Hilton, as that confidence leads them to successfully convert more hotels and sign more franchise deals.”
The brand has achieved the following milestones in 2012:
• Opened 49 new hotels, including:
o 31 hotels in the Americas, 11 in Europe and seven in Asia Pacific;
o 85 percent of these projects were conversions from another brand or independent hotel;
• Opened its first hotels in Japan, Croatia, Thailand and Spain:
• Includes opening of its 300th hotel in Naha, Okinawa, Japan;
• Brought its total portfolio of U.K. hotels to 18 (from zero in 2008):
o Doubled capacity in London;
• Signed more than 75 deals for hotels to open through 2020, at least 25 of which are planned in the Americas;
• Received top honours from Business Travel News in their 2012 Hotel Chain Survey in 6 out of 12 categories including: “Arrange Group Travel/Meeting,” “Meetings Facilities,” “Corporate Rate Programmes,” “Helpful Staff,” “Physical Appearance of Hotels,” “In-room amenities” and tied for “In-room Business Amenities;”
• The brand’s Cookie CAREavan Campaign was named one of the top four consumer campaigns of the year and one of the top 15 overall creative campaigns of 2012 by Holmes Report Creativity Index;
• Won Hotels Magazine’s inaugural Social Hotel Awards “Best Integrated Digital Campaign by Brand” Category for its 2011 Cookie CAREavan project.
“While growing the brand is important, developing the product is even more important to our existing and future owners,” Greenleaf said. “Our repositioning and marketing efforts have yielded impressive returns. For example, our converted hotels have proven they can quickly outpace competitors with respect to share growth.”
With an eye towards the future, Greenleaf said he anticipates achieving the following global growth goals in 2013:
• Expand the brand’s presence in secondary and tertiary markets within the United States;
• Double Canadian supply with three hotels opening, including the brand’s first hotel in downtown Toronto;
• Enter at least two additional countries in Europe, with two hotels each in Ireland and Poland;
• Grow the UK collection to 25 hotels with key openings in London and Edinburgh;
• Continue growth in Asia Pacific:
o Launch of the brand in Indonesia;
o Double supply in India in terms of hotels (from three to six);
• Nearly double the brand’s portfolio size in the Middle East and Africa region with launches in South Africa (Cape Town) and Seychelles, plus the addition of a third hotel in Tanzania (Stone Town, Zanzibar).
“As we look ahead, I foresee that our new Made Market restaurant concept in the United States (now open in Tulsa with more in the pipeline) will enhance DoubleTree by Hilton’s reputation for genuine warmth and local relevance in the face of increasingly uniform hotel offerings,” Greenleaf added. “We’ve spent the past two years on the road, first with our Cookie CAREavan and then with last year’s Little Things project, interacting with our guests to learn what we can do at our hotels to make their stay that much better. The Made Market concept, with three design options to make adoption easier for our owners, is an example of an insight gained, and we’ll be introducing additional changes, both subtle and substantial, that will continue to help us differentiate ourselves from the pack in cost-effective ways.”
