Hilton Sticks to Slower Growth Strategy

Some analysts believe Hilton Hotels Corp. should follow Geller’s lead in aggressively buying more properties.

The Beverly Hills-based company has only about 250 hotels bearing its famous name, a fraction of the number branded by market leader Marriott. Hilton has in fact been spending heavily on acquisitions, but much of that has been to buy out other people’s stakes in Hilton-branded hotels--deals that don’t extend the company’s ability to book rooms and market itself.

Dieter H. Huckestein, president of Hilton’s hotel division, predicted major consolidations will continue in the hotel industry but said Hilton won’t be rushed. “We will do deals when they make financial sense to us, not to please someone on Wall Street,” he said.

Huckestein commented recently after honoring the Hilton Anaheim for best overall performance by a Hilton commercial hotel. He noted that even as the company expands its Hilton Suites and Hilton Garden Inn chains, it still has 17 behemoth hotels such as the 1,574-room Anaheim property and the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which has more than 2,500 rooms, in Honolulu. “Any of those properties is like having four regular hotels,” he said.