Hilton gears up for Asian brand growth

Asia Pacific - In a bid to build brand awareness among travellers in Asia Pacific, Hilton Hotels Corporation has revealed its plan for a multi-brand expansion strategy across the region including revamping the design and style of its Hilton product as well as launching 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 intends to introduce three brands; the Doubletree, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn from its Hilton Family portfolio to Asia Pacific, as part of its 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.

"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.

"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 Singapore 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.