Hilton Hotels & Resorts

Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is an international chain of full service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of Hilton Worldwide.

The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton. As of 2010, there were over 530 Hilton branded hotels across the world in 78 countries across six continents. Hilton hotels are either owned by, managed by, or franchised to independent operators by Hilton Worldwide.

Overview

The Hilton Hotels brand remains one of the company's flagship brands and one of the largest hotel brands in the world. The company places marketing emphasis on both business travel and leisure travel with locations in major city centers, near airports, convention centers, and a number of vacation resorts and leisure-oriented hotels in popular vacation destinations around the world.

The company's Hilton HHonors guest loyalty program is one of the largest of its kind and has numerous partnerships with airlines and car rental companies. Some Hilton Hotels feature an Executive Level lounge for HHonors Gold and Diamond members and those willing to pay for Executive Rooms. The lounge is normally located on the highest floor of the hotel building. In addition to Hilton Hotels, the Hilton HHonors membership can also be used at all other Hilton Worldwide brands.

Paris Hilton

Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American socialite, television personality, model, actress, singer, DJ, businesswoman, and author. She is the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Born in New York City and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, Hilton began her modeling career as a teenager when she signed with Donald Trump's agency, Trump Model Management. Her lifestyle and rumored short-lived relationships made her a feature of entertainment news, and Hilton was proclaimed "New York's leading It girl" in 2001. In 2003, a sex tape with Hilton and her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris, was made public. Released only three weeks before the premiere of the reality television series The Simple Life, in which she starred alongside her long-time friend Nicole Richie, the sex tape became a media sensation. The Simple Life continued for five seasons and gave both women international recognition.

Nicky Hilton Rothschild

Nicholai Olivia Rothschild (née Hilton, born October 5, 1983) is an American fashion designer, socialite, and model. She is a member of the Hilton family by birth. Her great-grandfather was Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Through her marriage to James Rothschild, a grandson of Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild, she became a member of the aristocratic Rothschild family.

Early life

Hilton was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles. She is the daughter of Richard Hilton, a hotel heir of the Hilton family who works as a businessman in real estate and Kathy Hilton (née Avanzino), a former actress and half sister of Kim and Kyle Richards. Hilton was named after her great-uncle, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Jr. She is the second of four children: she has an older sister, Paris Whitney Hilton (born 1981), and two younger brothers, Barron Nicholas Hilton II (born 1989) and Conrad Hughes Hilton III (born 1994).

Hilton was raised Roman Catholic. She has Norwegian and German ancestry on her father's side and Italian, English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry on her mother's side. Hilton graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls Catholic school on the Upper East Side, in 2001. She took courses at Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons The New School for Design but does not have a degree.

Conrad Hilton

Conrad Nicholson Hilton (December 25, 1887 – January 3, 1979) was an American hotelier and the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain.

Early life

Conrad Hilton was born in San Antonio, New Mexico. His father, Augustus Halvorsen Hilton (1854-1919), was an immigrant from Norway and his Catholic mother, Mary Genevieve (née Laufersweiler) (1863-1956), was an American of German descent from Iowa. Hilton grew up with seven siblings: Felice A. Hilton, Eva C. Hilton, Carl H. Hilton, Julian Hilton (died in infancy), Rosemary J. Hilton, August H. Hilton and Helen A. Hilton. The Hilton name comes from the farm Hilton in Kløfta, Norway, where Conrad's father was born.

Hilton attended the Goss Military Academy and St. Michael's College (now Santa Fe University of Art and Design), and the New Mexico School of Mines (now New Mexico Tech). He was a member of the international fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon. In his early twenties, Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, when the state was newly formed. He served two years in the U.S. Army during World War I. His father was killed in a car accident while he was serving in the Army in France.