The Hilton Effect

As Hilton nears its 100th anniversary in 2019, best-selling author and Stanford Business professor Chip Heath unveils the impact the first global hotel company has had around the world in a new book titled The Hilton Effect. Business author Karla Starr joined him in the examination of the company founded by Conrad Hilton, a dreamer who aspired to accomplish much more than to create a comfortable place to sleep. Over the last century, Hilton has grown from a single hotel in Cisco, Texas, to nearly 5,500 hotels and 14 brands in 106 countries and territories.

The Hilton Effect, as Heath defines it, is the positive, world-altering impact that Hilton has had, and continues to have, on billions of lives and thousands of communities around the globe – pioneering new travel markets and bringing people and cultures together to make the world feel smaller, while expanding horizons and opportunities.

“Most organizations celebrating their 100th birthday would be content to throw themselves a party, but Hilton opted to hire a pair of skeptical outsiders – business authors with backgrounds in social science – to examine its impact on the world,” Heath said. “The stories that emerged were even more remarkable than we initially suspected and what Hilton employees considered to be just another day at work was quite extraordinary.”

Through extensive independent research and in-depth interviews, Heath found deeper meaning in the history and influence of the company over the past century. Heath focused on three areas that he argues define The Hilton Effect:

• The Hilton Effect on Guests – Hilton has influenced guests by easing travel and broadening perspectives – changing travel as we know it through a century of firsts from air conditioning to a mobile-centric hotel room; creating the modern business travel industry; and innovating the guest experience, from the first concierge service for female travelers more than 50 years ago, to unexpected moments at the breakfast bar.
• The Hilton Effect on Team Members – Hilton has impacted employees by fostering a powerful entrepreneurial spirit and wide-ranging career opportunities – creating a culture where it’s possible for restaurant servers to become C-suite execs and for innovations to be driven from every corner of the company.
• The Hilton Effect on Communities and Economies – Hilton has become woven into the history, economies and infrastructure of communities all over the world, becoming indispensable focal points in the process – building roads out of nothing to develop remote areas of Nigeria, transforming the London skyline, revitalizing deserted docks in Buenos Aires and helping Sri Lanka survive and thrive during a civil war.

“I think the world is a better place because Hilton was born into it one hundred years ago,” said Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton. “And if we continue to do our job, the world will be a better place because Hilton is in it for the next one hundred years.”