It’s been 16 years since Blackstone acquired Hilton (back then it was known as Hilton Hotels Corp.), taking it private. In 2013, Hilton relisted on the New York Stock Exchange under the same HLT ticker it listed under the first time, in 1946. A lot has changed in the interim for the now McLean, Va.-based hotel company (it moved to Virginia from Beverly Hills, Calif., in 2009) from 1946 to today and in the 10 years since it returned to the public markets.
The company marked the decade since its IPO on December 11, 2013, touting its growth and shareholder returns. Through the change, the one constant has been its CEO, Chris Nassetta, who was tapped by Blackstone to lead the company, poached from real estate investment trust Host Hotels & Resorts, a publicly traded company that buys and sells hotels, where he served as CEO for seven years.
It proved to be one of many wise choices by Jon Gray, president and COO of Blackstone, who convinced Nassetta to take the job. Nassetta has not only overseen the growth in the company, he has changed its culture and unified it. Of the last decade, he said, “Conrad Hilton built this company on the belief that we could be an engine of opportunity and a beacon of hope all around the world. Guided by that belief, we’ve dedicated more than the last decade to reigniting the company’s culture and executing on a growth strategy that enabled us to serve more guests, team members, owners, shareholders and partners with our distinctive hospitality.”
Blackstone’s untimely (it happened in the paroxysm of the Global Financial Crisis), but, ultimately, successful acquisition and exit of Hilton (the firm netted a $14 billion profit when it fully cycled out of it in 2018) helped transform the company into a global powerhouse, noted Hilton’s now CFO and president of global development, Kevin Jacobs. “The IPO was an important milestone in our company’s history. It signified the success of our roughly six-year transformation under Blackstone’s ownership as well as the beginning of a new era of growth and innovation for Hilton,” he said.
In the past decade, Hilton has not only furthered its reach globally, it also, in 2017, completed the spin offs of Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations, freeing it of its timeshare business and of most of its owned real estate, focusing on becoming an asset-light company that licenses its brands. “We have enhanced the resiliency of our model with the spin-offs of our timeshare business and the majority of our real estate, creating a capital-light, fee-based business,” Jacobs said. “We have also continued to strengthen our balance sheet and the power of our network effect.”
The company touted its growth in a commemorative press release. Today, Hilton maintains 22 brands and has those brand names on the doors of some 7,400 properties worldwide. Nearly 90% of Hilton’s properties today are franchised. Its loyalty program, Hilton Honors, numbers more than 173 million members as of the third quarter 2023.
Hilton has also more than doubled its development pipeline since 2013, expanding into more than 30 new countries and territories. Its pipeline today is the company’s largest.
“Our next era of growth will be defined by Hilton’s ability to continue delivering reliable and friendly stay experiences, innovating to meet travelers’ evolving needs and growing strategically to serve even more guests as they seek new travel experiences around the world,” Jacobs said.