Singapore – Hilton Hotels Corporation (Hilton) in Asia Pacific has today launched a new industry first. Anyone making a bedroom booking before 30th June for any date in 2009 will be eligible to receive a complimentary day meetings package including meeting room facilities, refreshments and lunch.i The offer extends across all Hilton Family hotel brands in Asia Pacific: Hilton, Conrad and Doubletree by Hilton.

Meetings for Free applies to any conference, training or sales event held at any one of 47 Hilton Family hotels across 14 Asia Pacific countries for meetings from as few as 2 to as many as 100 residential delegates. The promotion is open for bookings made during a limited period between 15th April and 30th June 2009, for events taking place throughout the year until 31st December 2009.

Hilton’s Meetings for Free represents an inspired solution to one of the problems currently facing modern businesses – how to ensure effective business communications whilst meeting and travel budgets are being cut. The savings represented by Meetings for Free will go some way to helping organizations to continue to meet offsite, enabling them to be stronger and more effective through the current challenging times.

Supporting Hilton’s belief that meetings matter is some independent research commissioned by Hiltonii across Asia Pacificiii. This found that 77% of those surveyed believe that offsite meetings are a necessity not a luxury, 94% that meetings can build stronger business relationships and 91% that meetings build stronger bonds between teams.

Speaking about the Hilton’s Meetings for Free promotion and associated survey findings, Andrew Flack, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Hilton Hotels Asia Pacific said, “The research illustrates that despite the current economic challenges, meetings still matter. Combined with our own experience of hosting meetings in our Hilton Family hotels across Asia Pacific, we see a change that rather than cutting out meetings to save costs, businesses are in fact changing the shape of the meetings they host.

“Increasingly we see a move towards smaller, more regular meetings in short haul destinations instead of the larger meetings and congresses in long haul locations. This promotion is designed to specifically address this trend”, said Mr Flack.

Meetings were also perceived to provide solutions to business problems with 84% of people believing that meetings result in people feeling more inspired than through other forms of communicationiv, 85% stating that meetings are more likely to result in breakthrough thinking, and 82% that meetings can bring the best out of people when compared to other communication forms.

Technology has provided new means of communication which can be used in place of a face to face meeting, and 82% of those questioned agreed that cost considerations and these improved technologies were now resulting in offsite meetings occurring less often. However 61% stated that they would rather work for an organisation that invested in regular offsite meetings.

Other insights that should inspire businesses to take this preference for meeting in person even more seriously are the details of exactly what people do whilst on a conference call; 81% admitted to carrying on working, 81% check their emails, 75% have side conversations with colleagues, 35% visit the bathroom with their hand phone whilst on the call and 20% help themselves to an alcoholic drink.

Mr Flack continues, “Given the trends we are now seeing regarding meetings, and as a longstanding partner for meeting organisers, we at Hilton felt it was time to play our own part to help organisations bring their people together and by doing so be better equipped to respond to these challenging times. By providing Meetings for Free we are not only offering a great deal, but in our own way making a contribution to the health of business across the region.”

Bookings for Hilton’s Meetings For Free packages can be made from 15th April 2009 to 30th June 2009, for any meeting that is held from 15th April 2009 until the end of 2009. The promotion is applicable across 47 Hilton Family Hotels across 14 countries in Asia Pacificv. For more details see www.hilton.com/meetingsforfree for more information along with direct telephone and e-mail contacts for all hotels where the promotion is available. An immediate verbal quote will be provided.

i Meetings package includes a free buffet lunch, regular refreshments and standard meetings facilities.
ii The survey was conducted by Prophisee, an independent research house based in Sydney.
iii The survey was conducted in Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore and Shanghai with a sample of 233 people.
Criteria for respondents was that they were mid or senior business people, regularly or occasionally participating in conference calls, video / web enabled conferences, have attended an offsite meeting at a major hotel in the last 12 months and regularly or occasionally travel for business.
iv When compared with video / internet conferences, conference calls and emails were the other alternatives listed.
v This includes Hilton Family hotels under the Hilton, Doubletree by Hilton and Conrad brands.

About Hilton Hotels Corporation

Hilton Hotels Corporation is the leading global hospitality company, with more than 3,300 hotels and 550,000 rooms in 77 countries, with more than 135,000 team members worldwide. The company owns, manages or franchises 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®, the Waldorf Astoria™ and the Waldorf Astoria Collection™, as well as the recently launched Home2 Suites by Hilton™ and Denizen™ Hotels. The company also manages the world-class guest reward program Hilton HHonors®.

Hilton Hotels Corporation is an Official Sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Team, which will extend through the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, the 2010/2012 U.S. Paralympic Team and the 2011 U.S. Pan American Team. 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. For more information about the company, please visit .

Faith Thoms
Director PR & Communication - Asia Pacific
(65) 6833 9762
Hilton