Hilton Hotels Corporation

Dubai, U.A.E | Hilton Hotels Corporation anticipates doubling its portfolio in Middle East & Africa over the next five years in line with the company's strategic focus on development and growth. Currently with 43 properties and 15 new openings scheduled over the next three years in the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Africa and Indian Ocean, the Middle East's leading hotel brand (ref. Business Development Research Consultants 2007 survey) is targeting a Hilton hotel in every capital city.

Jean-Paul Herzog, President, Hilton Hotels, Middle East & Africa commented at World Travel Market 2007 in London, "The Middle East is a key development market for Hilton Hotels. We have a new organisational structure with Middle East & Africa heaquartered out of Dubai that allows us to continue our focus on operational excellence, whilst realising our development ambitions for the Hilton Family of Brands.

"The UK is the number one international source market for our hotels, with more than 13% of overall room nights originating from the UK - therefore exhibitions such as WTM are of tremendous importance to us to promote and sell our current portfolio, new openings & development strategy to the travel trade."

Next year (2008), Hilton is scheduled to have five new hotel openings in the U.A.E and Egypt, together with its first hotels in Qatar, Lebanon and Equatorial Guinea.

"It is always exciting to be entering a country for the first time, and at Hilton we have a heritage of firsts; we were the first international hotel chain in the U.A.E over 35 years ago with the Hilton Al Ain, and the first in Egypt nearly 50 years ago with the Nile Hilton in Cairo," continued Herzog.

Luxor's first Worldwide Resort is scheduled to open next year (October 2008) in Egypt with the new-look Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa. Following a complete facelift, the 235-room resort set in 'the world's greatest open-air museum', Luxor, will feature the city's first world-class spa. This follows on from the opening this year of the spectacular Hilton Ras Al Khaimah Resort & Spa in the Northern Emirates (U.A.E), with 151 villa suites right on the beach, and the re-opening of the 400-room Hilton Taba Resort & Nelson Village on Egypt's breathtaking Sinai coast, after a multi-million dollar refurbishment.

In the U.A.E, Hilton's first residential offering, the 44-storey Hilton Jumeirah Beach Residence with 371 rooms and apartments, and the Hilton Beach Club are both scheduled to open in October 2008, next to the existing Worldwide Resort on Dubai's world-famous Jumeirah coastline. Meanwhile, with Qatar representing the second highest GDP growth after China, Hilton will mark its entry into the country with the 324-room Hilton Doha scheduled to open in October 2008.

The scheduled opening of the Hilton Beirut in June 2008 represents another first for Hilton, this time in Lebanon. With 158 rooms, this prime business property overlooking the capital's corniche will have a very contemporary look and feel. The 2008 opening pipeline continues with the Hilton Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, West Africa, scheduled to open in 2008 with 211 rooms.

Looking further ahead, the first two Conrad hotels in the Gulf are scheduled to open in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in December 2009. In addition, new Hilton properties in Kuwait, and Amman and Aqaba in Jordan, Ras Al Khaimah (U.A.E), Kampala (Uganda) and Accra (Ghana) are scheduled to open by 2010.

Hilton is moving beyond its current concentration in the upscale and luxury segment, to also develop mid-market and economy properties (Doubletree by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton) in the international markets.

Herzog explained, "Consumers should be able to choose between a multitude of brands each offering a different product for a different reason of travel. Consumer choice is key to future growth."

Hilton Hotels Middle East & Africa is exhibiting at WTM 2007 on the Area's destination stands, whilst visitors can also experience a spa treatment at the Hilton Luxor Resort & Spa's relaxation and tranquility room in Room SG30.

Hilton Hotels Corporation is the leading global hospitality company, with more than 2,800 hotels and 480,000 rooms in 76 countries and territories, including 100,000 team members worldwide.

The company owns, manages or franchises a hotel portfolio of some of the best known and highly regarded hotel brands including Hilton®, Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hilton Grand Vacations™, Homewood Suites by Hilton®, and The Waldorf=Astoria Collection®.

The company currently operates 43 hotels in the Middle East and Africa - 18 hotels in Egypt, nine hotels in the UAE, four in Saudi Arabia and one each in Oman and Kuwait, plus another ten hotels in Africa and the Indian Ocean.

Hilton's heritage in the Middle East stretches back nearly 50 years, when it became the first international hotel brand to open a property in Egypt - the Nile Hilton in 1959. It was also the first international hotel brand to open a property in the UAE over 35 years ago - the Hilton Al Ain in 1971.

The 46-suite Qasr Al Sharq, or 'Palace of the Orient' which opened last year is now a member of The Waldorf=Astoria Collection®. The first phase of a Worldwide Resort in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE opened in January this year with 151 villa suites right on the beach.

Hilton Hotels has an opening pipeline of an additional 15 properties across Middle East & Africa in the U.A.E, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda and Ghana.

The Hilton Family of Hotels adheres to founder Conrad Hilton's philosophy that, "It has been, and continues to be, our responsibility to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality." The company put a name to its unique brand of service that has made it the best known and most highly regarded hotel company: be hospitable®. The philosophy is shared by all brands in the Hilton Family of Hotels, and is the inspiration for its overarching message of kindness and generosity ()

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Samantha Wood
+1 603.382.9340
Hilton