BEVERLY HILLS, CA— Hilton Garden Inn executives aren’t deterred by the fact that the brand’s segment— midscale with F&B— saw a 0.1% drop in supply growth accompanied by a 0.3% drop in demand growth for the 12 months ending December 2000. (See accompanying chart). In fact, Hilton Garden Inn’s Senior VP/Brand Management Adrian Kurre said that the brand exceeded its goal of having more than 200 properties open or under construction by year-end 2000. The brand now has 93 properties open. Including those in construction or application, that number reaches 216 hotels, said Kurre. “Hilton Garden Inn opened 26 locations last year, and expects to open another 35 to 40 this year,” said Kurre. He explained that this figure for 2001 had been cutback from an original estimate of around 50 “primarily because we’ve learned [prospective]owners have been experiencing difficulty in securing construction financing and in the area of local code compliance.” Understandably, difficulties encountered in the course of raising capital can be particularly troublesome, especially when one considers Hilton Garden Inn overwhelmingly focuses on “new building… to the tune of $60,000 to $100,000 per key, depending primarily on the selected location of the property.” Accordingly, the senior vp revealed that Hilton Garden Inn— through its parent Hilton Hotels— offers three separate and distinct loan programs to assist the brand’s franchise partners. As to where that money ultimately goes, Kurre said that the prototypical Hilton Garden Inn is a flexibly configured, interior-corridor, mid-price facility ranging in size from 88 to 325 rooms, with the larger hotels usually slated for downtown urban-market locations. However, he pointed out that every effort is made to convey the now traditional “suburban” feel to every property, no matter the location. As such, whenever and wherever possible, the brand displays its signature glass-wall pavilion, entrance cupola, etc. “We have been successful hitting— and for the most part sticking with— strategic suburban locations, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t willing to look at downtown urban sites,” Kurre said. As he explained it, this approach has been instrumental in the brand’s acceptance by the business travel as well as weekend leisure travel markets; that acceptance is evidenced by the system-wide occupancy level of some 70%, including the three new Hilton Garden Inn properties opened so far this year. “We believe we’ve very accurately touched on what’s important to these two primary market segments we serve,” Kurre contended. “And whether that’s the absence of a bellman for business travelers, or the inclusion of a refrigerator and microwave oven for weekend leisure guests, our new advertising theme— “Just What You Need”— tells our story perfectly.” Also typically found at each Hilton Garden Inn site is a Great American Grill restaurant, a lounge area equipped with a television and a fireplace, a bar area, meeting facilities, complimentary 24-hour business center, and a laundry facility. Recreational facilities include a fitness room, indoor or outdoor swimming pool, and a whirlpool. With an eye especially geared toward the business traveler, in-room amenities include a work desk with a pull-out shelf for a portable computer; high-speed Internet access in many of the system’s 13,160 rooms currently open; adjustable lighting; and two telephones with two lines, data ports and voice-mail capability. Looking ahead, Kurre offered that Hilton Garden Inn is anticipating reaching a critical mass of between 400 to 500 domestic properties “sometime not too far down the road.” At this point, he said the “focused-service hotel” chain lists one property up and running in Canada, and three others open for business in Mexico.
