HILTON WORLDWIDE

Hilton Worldwide (Hilton) is a leading global hospitality company which was established in the year 1919 by its founder Conrad Hilton. Since then the company has expanded geographically, produced original hotel and travel concepts, and developed innovative technologies to enhance the guest experience. Their 93-year history as pioneers in the industry makes them the number one venue for travelers, developers, partners, and team members alike. The company was until recently known as Hilton Hotels Corporation. The new Hilton Worldwide is now owned by the private equity firm "The Blackstone Group". The name Hilton Worldwide signifies the company’s global breadth and reach. Hilton Worldwide retains a chain of hotels from luxurious full-service hotels and resorts to extended stay suites and mid-priced hotels. This means that Hilton Worldwide is mainly focused on the lodging sector. One of the world's largest hoteliers is operated by Hilton. This includes a lodging empire of over 3,900 hotels and resorts in almost 91 countries. The company provides services that include lodging rooms, health and fitness facilities, and meeting facilities, dining options, swimming pools, exercise facilities, laundry facilities and spa treatments. Hilton operates and maintains a trusted portfolio of brands such as, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, and Homewood Suites etc. Additionally, the company also operates resorts, guest suites, and clubs.

Vision
To fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality.

Mission
To be the preeminent global hospitality company - the first choice of guests, team members, and owners alike.

Location
Hilton Worldwide
7930 Jones Branch Drive, Suite 1100
McLean, Virginia 22102 USA
(703) 883-1000) www.hiltonworldwide.com Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_Worldwide

Hilton Worldwide and its Business Environment

There is a common relationship between the company and its environment. Companies inhabit in environments from which they rely on resources to supply goods and services. Companies must be reliant and open to the social and physical environment that surrounds them. They should follow the governmental requirements as well as the actions of customers and competitors. However, companies can also influence their environments. Generally environments change much faster than companies. The main reason for failure within a company is the inability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. New technologies, new products, and changing public tastes and values put strains on any company's culture, politics, and people. Most organizations do not cope well with large environmental changes. Being a global leader, operating more than 3,900 hotels in 91 countries, Hilton Worldwide depends on dynamic and sustainable communities. The strategy behind the Hilton Worldwide's mission is to harness their passion and expertise to address the social, economic, and sustainability issues that impact their business that are essential to the communities where they live and work.

* Nurturing is second nature.
Having more than 140,000 team members, Hilton Worldwide believes that it is important to provide influential hospitality employment opportunities. Competitive salaries, benefits packages and access to Hilton Worldwide University, (their internal education program, which includes courses varying from management skills and personal development to training in systems and processes) are offered to their employees. Hilton Worldwide attempts to create a friendly working environment within their team members, by striving to make their employees feel appreciated and empowered to build rewarding careers in hospitality.
The diverse backgrounds and experiences of their team members, owners, and suppliers are valued by the Hilton Worldwide. They believe that these diverse backgrounds and experiences of their team members, guests, suppliers, partners, and owners make their organization stronger. Furthermore, Hilton worldwide strives to address the local needs of the diverse communities in which they live, work, and serve around the globe by respecting the diversity of these communities.

* Celebrating Cultures
Bringing enriching cultural exchanges to their guests, team members, and community have been Hilton Worldwide's goal. They consider each of their hotels to display the local traditions and culture. They also seek to create opportunities for their guests, team members, and the general public to learn about local history, customs, and way of life. * Supporting emerging economies: Hilton Worldwide is the first global hospitality brand to enter many developing and emerging market economies. They have opened the first international hotel in Namibia. * Localized Food and Beverage Menu Design: Think global. Cook local. At the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, Chef Thomas Elder produced a menu for their new härth restaurant that includes the locally sourced ingredients and community traditions.

* Strengthening Communities
Through job creation, local sourcing, and economic development Hilton Worldwide helps the communities where they live and work. By offering their time, talent, and assets they help solve community needs. * Reaching a common goal.
The travel sector of developing and emerging countries makes up nearly 10 percent of GDP by creating new jobs, new companies, and economic development. The success of each company is directly linked to the success of their communities, and Hilton Worldwide is committed to development of economic growth and community involvement.

* Serving Local Communities
In a daily basis Hilton Worldwide volunteers their time, talent, and resources to deal with local community needs. By providing charitable contributions which further includes providing educational programs that help underserved populations, Hilton Worldwide has brought a genuine knowledge to helping organizations.

* Supporting Local Economic Growth
In each of the Hilton Worldwide’s hotels they choose to employ local people, rely on local sources, by strengthening the community. By expanding opportunities in hospitality they bring a huge impact on the community's local tourism. In 2011, Hilton Worldwide opened the Hilton Windhoek, Namibia’s first five-star hotel.

* Living Sustainably
It is important to protect our world by focusing on products and programs that both delight the customers, and harm the environment less. By doing so, Hilton Worldwide provides for today's needs while positively influencing the future.

* Goals of Hilton Worldwide
Through Hilton Worldwide’s portfolio of conservation-friendly hotels and corporate offices, they had made a five-year commitment, from 2009 to 2014, to reduce: * Energy consumption by 20 percent * CO2 emissions by 20 percent * Waste output by 20 percent * Water consumption by 10 percent

* Sustainability Mission of Hilton Worldwide
Sustainability in action helps them: * Protect the world globally * Advance building design * Improve operational efficiency * Serve the communities * Engage team members * Enhance the guest experience

Reference: http://hiltonworldwide.com/

Business Structure and its classifications

Organizational structure is the way in which the interrelated groups of an organization are constructed. From a managerial point of view the main concerns are ensuring effective communication and coordination. Basic components of organizational structure include job specialization, departmentalization, patterns of authority, and span of control. Job specialization includes increased worker productivity and efficiency, but it increases the need for managerial control and coordination. While patterns of authority remain centralized in many hotel or lodging businesses, increasingly employees have become empowered to make decisions that were made by managers. Decentralization is the distribution of authority throughout an organization. Centralization is the retention of decision-making authority by a high-level manager. Span of control refers to the number of people who report to one manager or supervisor. The level of coordination and communication between departments can be increased by the activities of committees. The executive operating committee includes the general manager and designated department heads. Staffing is an ongoing challenge in the hotel and lodging industry because of the high percentage of employee turnover. Successful staffing depends on providing adequate job descriptions, including job specifications, as well as realizing that job descriptions must be flexible. Employees must be properly trained; effective training includes problem solving, problem analysis, quality measurement, feedback, and team building. Successful managers enjoy certain common characteristics including providing clear direction, feedback, and recognition; encouraging open communication and innovation; and establishing ongoing controls. Collectively, Hilton Worldwide’s Executive Management team brings over 200 years of experience to the brand. With diverse backgrounds and proven track records of success, they're well-positioned to keep Hilton Worldwide at the forefront of the hospitality industry.

Marketing concepts and marketing position of goods and Services

Hilton Worldwide is a recognized and reputable name in first-class hotels across world. In 1999, Hilton expanded extensively by acquiring the Promus Hotel Corporation, Hampton Inn and Suites, Doubletree Hotels, Embassy Suites Hotels, and Homewood Suites. Today Hilton Worldwide has become the world’s most famous and successful hotel company. The combined approach of Hilton Worldwide signifies maximizing cost and scale efficiencies, rapidly sharing best practice, market, and trend intelligence. It is Hilton's goal to ensure appropriate affordability to each hotel. They provide analysis of their previous performance and strategies to drive future profitability. Hilton engages with sales teams for hotels with significant group and corporate business, to ensure corporate pricing structure is maximized throughout the RFP process. Planning to actively expand their performance in marketing activity towards new markets, Hilton Worldwide launched global affiliate marketing program, joining exclusively with award-winning performance marketing networks; Digital Window and Zanox Group. Digital Window and Zanox Group having a vast global reach with 13 offices worldwide made them the ideal partners for Hilton’s ambitions. The strong internal management team of Affiliate Window and Zanox Group enabled Hilton to meet its goals, through comprehensive levels of support covering the main areas of their online business, including superior technical capabilities, interactive partnerships/publisher liaison and advanced training opportunities for Hilton stakeholders. The support available in local markets confirms a comprehensive strategy across all affiliate marketing campaigns, including the capacity to comply with local trends. Hilton Worldwide’s portfolio of hotels is set to capitalize on opportunities available through the performance channel; mostly bringing sales and income through publisher partnerships and cross-promotion of hotels throughout international markets. The strong platform available within the networks brings comprehensive reporting facilities and open communication with publishers, allowing customized promotion of the latest Hilton offers using localized and relevant creative.

* Globally motivated. Individually focused.
Hilton Worldwide promises their owners and operators combined benefits of scale, access, competence, and experience from Sales through their various sales professionals in many of their offices around the world. Hilton Worldwide’s sales teams are focused on being the most global, integrated, and relevant sales force in the industry. * Expert and Trusted Sales Force
The global sales team of Hilton Worldwide has always been recognized as a top selling and customer service focused organization throughout the industry. From 34 offices located around the globe Hilton Worldwide conducts business in 42 languages serving 25,000 customers in 91 different countries allowing them to truly understand the unique needs and opportunities of regions around the world, and locally as well.

* Power of Scale
Hilton Worldwide believes their key to success is their partnerships with the outside world. The sales of the Hilton Worldwide cover the top procurement which accounts with an average share of more than twenty percent across all the major accounts. And that's not all. They also have a leading share in the third Party Distribution arena as well. Their preferred relationships with venue finders, agencies, and distribution partners proves that they have more than 4,000 Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) accounts managed by them, which could deliver a significant revenue to their hotels. * High Level Access
There is a dedicated team within the Hilton Worldwide known as their Global Strategic Account Management Team, which focuses on creating mutual growth by applying a unique approach to account management. They do this by negotiating truly customized deals that drive profit and revenue which leads to stronger and more committed relationships. * Regional Marketing
Since every country is different in their unique way, Hilton Worldwide’s Regional Marketing teams carry out organized, regionally relevant, go-to-market strategies across key segments that drive business to their properties. Regional Marketing helps integrate local voice into all the marketing plans and strategies, while ensuring property-level marketing which would support their brand standards.

Reference: http://hiltonworldwide.com/
Reference: http://blog.zanox.com/en/zanox/tag/affiliate-window/

Management of products and its costing

Hilton Worldwide brands interact with thousands of communities and millions of people every day. The Company's Supply Management worked hard to provide the highest quality management approach, products, and service to each and every one of their hotels.

* Excellent, Value-Based Pricing: leveraging the scale of the Hilton Worldwide's brands, they negotiate with hundreds of global and regional suppliers to secure competitive value-based pricing. * Precise Ordering Methods: The Supply Management of Hilton ensures continuity and security of supply so owners and operators can be certain orders will be filled, and the products delivered will meet hotel’s needs. * Supplier Consolidation: Supplier consolidation promises there are fewer deliveries, invoices, and checks, leaving more time for team members to attend to guests. * Superior Program Controls: Quality and reliability are maintained through the enforcement of strict product standards, process controls, supplier audits, supplier management, and ethics standards. * Improved Forecasting: Hilton Supply Management help hotels to improve forecasting of inventories, costs, and budgets, making future planning easier. * Global Operations Support: Hilton Supply Management offers worldwide coverage, with support operations located around the world at the national, regional, and local levels. * Extensive Knowledge: Because of their 93 years of knowledge and experience in hospitality supply chain, it makes hard for their competitors to replicate their formula for success.

Hilton Wordlwide's Supply Management goal
To be the leading provider of hotel supply management resources.

Hilton Wordlwide's Supply Management objective
To provide operations and supply management solutions for our constituency that results in the attainment of their strategic objectives.

Over the years Hilton Worldwide made huge contributions to lead the industry by regulating sustainability concentrating on delivering great guest experiences. The system that helps to improve hotel performance and profitability while managing its global resource constraint is the Hilton's Proprietary Sustainability Measurement System. The LightStay system was the foundation of the company's great accomplishment of achieving ISO 9001 quality and 14001 environments for its entire portfolio of brands. This made it one of the largest volume certifications of commercial buildings in history. The system analyzes performance across two hundred operational practices such as housekeeping, paper-product usage, food waste, chemical storage, air quality and transportation. Hilton Worldwide believed that in order to achieve sustainability across its internal procurement organizations it must lay out a transparent, formalized measurement and metrics of sustainability across the entire supply chain. And they must focus their product and process innovation to emphasizing reduction of the overall total cost of ownership (TCO). Another is the sustainability leadership with a focus on maintaining strong supplier partnerships. To identify the knowledge of what to measure (and how to measure it) when evaluating the sustainability of its products, the key to applying more intelligent decision making and more comprehensive thinking about sustainability was needed. This key would enable the company to combine the evaluation and costing process into its already existing, proprietary LightStay system. In order to be a considerate leader in sustainability, procurement and technology solutions to help it make the most educated strategic decisions about the products it purchases, as well as show how to integrate existing technology into an executable solution Hilton Worldwide decided to get consultancy from IBM. Incorporating sustainability metrics into the procurement process IBM worked with Hilton Worldwide to integrate sustainability into its procurement practices, supply management and technologies. With the help of IBM, Hilton's Supply Management (HSM) process was reevaluated enabling Hilton Worldwide to accumulate and evaluate sustainability data and turn it into convenient decision making. Eventually, Hilton was able to capture sustainability metrics for a considerable amount of the company’s spending. Improving the guest experience at the same time supporting sustainability objectives,
Hilton Worldwide became one of the best-in-class organizations in regard to sustainability. The project with IBM helped Hilton Worldwide understand complex metrics and interconnections in an easy approach at the same time extending its understanding over a range of opportunities including understanding its potential cost, efficiency and product innovations. This enhanced the guest experience and overall economic value.

Reference: http://hiltonworldwide.com/
Reference: http://www.ibm.com/us/en/

SWOT Analysis of Hilton Worldwide

Strengths * Hilton worldwide is a well established organization and business leader in the hospitality industry * Hilton worldwide is well diversified across the globe * Hilton Worldwide's large scale economy in advertising, marketing, finance, banking, makes them efficient in business management, administration and direction. * Hilton worldwide possesses solid integration features such as owning the companies that manufacture its furniture and has invested in online reservation travel enterprises

Weaknesses * Hilton Worldwide might face the inability to adapt quickly to the external environmental changes * controlling their large workforce and ensuring that compliance might become hard * communication with Hilton Wordwide's consumers and other stakeholders about its environmental activities might be a difficult task * The size and scale of its global business could make it hard to control standards and quality.

Opportunities * Hilton Worldwide can offer a range of unique and specialized services to:
-Wedding planning & hosting
-Spas that specialize in personal services
-Personal trainers * Hilton Worldwide should consider expanding their business into or owning a cruise line. A cruise ship is little more than a hotel that floats. basically this would match what it currently does with its leased properties * Take advantage of emerging markets, especially with business class and mid-priced markets * Invest on the Development of a games village to big international tournaments. This will give good marketing and reputation to Hilton Worldwide

Threats * Hilton Wordwide being the leading company in Hospitality industry makes them the target of competition, locally and globally * Being a global company Hilton Worldwide is exposed to political problems in the countries that they operate in.

Conclusion and recommendation

Over the years Hilton has proudly proven to be the only hotel with a breadth of leading brands, spanning the lodging segments from luxurious full-service hotels and resorts to extended-stay suites and mid-priced hotels. However huge global companies like Hilton must be aware of the fact that every day new business practices are evolving along with changing technologies. Resistance to change has become a primary cause of business failure. Changes and growth in the hotel and hospitality industry includes a continued focus on international expansion and using all media to promote its products to potential customers. By studying national and regional industry trends, Hilton Worldwide must take advantage of opportunities that will enable growth while identifying threats that may affect profitability. The future success of Hilton Worldwide will be driven in large part by the ability to foresee and capitalize on change. As we go through global transitions, successful companies will examine the key factors that will not only define success but also the ability to survive in the future. Visionary leadership, globalization, diversity, flexibility, flat structure, customer focus, zero defects, network orientation must be acknowledged by the successful hotel organization. Hilton Worldwide must be able to respond to increasingly globalized sales, the movement to maintaining sales offices in many countries and hotel properties across the globe, and an increasingly globalized labor market. By being able to achieve all of the factors mentioned above Hilton Wordlwide can proudly remain as the leading Global Hospitality Company in the future.

References

http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_Worldwide http://www.ibm.com/us/en/
http://blog.zanox.com/en/zanox/tag/affiliate-window/