Type Franchise Number of locations 2,000+ hotels | Industry Hospitality | |
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Founded 1984; 33 years ago (1984) (as Hampton Inn) Founder Promus Hotel Corporation Headquarters Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | ||
Hampton by Hilton, formerly known as Hampton Inn, is a brand of hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide. The Hampton hotel brand is a chain of moderately priced, midscale hotels with limited food and beverage facilities. Most Hampton hotels are independently owned and operated by franchisees, though a few are owned and/or managed by Hilton Worldwide. Hampton by Hilton is one of the largest hotel franchises in the U.S.. The Hampton franchise includes more than 2,000 hotels throughout the U.S. and 16 other countries.
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History
Originally, the hotel chain was founded in 1984 as Hampton Inn, a budget hotel by the Holiday Corporation. The first hotel was a two-story, exterior-entrance building with 128 guest rooms located in Memphis, Tennessee. In late-1989, after some financial difficulties, Holiday Corporation prepared to sell its hallmark Holiday Inn hotels and started the holding company Promus Hotel Corporation, which included Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, and Homewood Suites. With this change, Promus re-invested in the Hampton Inn brand and began its change from a budget hotel to a middle-market hotel to compete with their freshly sold former brand. The hotel chain was the first of the mid-price hotels to offer free continental breakfast and the first to introduce the "100 percent satisfaction guarantee." By 1990, the Hampton Inn chain included over 220 properties with more than 27,000 rooms. Hampton Inn and Suites was introduced in 1995, which featured two-room suite style hotel rooms complete with living room and kitchen areas.
In 1999, the Promus Hotel Corporation was bought by Hilton Worldwide for $3.7 billion. In 2004, as part of the $100 million "Make it Hampton" initiative, Hampton began upgrading its hotels including the production of an alarm clock which featured an easy-to-set alarm and an mp3 player hook-up. Other changes made during the upgrade were the switch to white bedding, adding hot food items to continental breakfast options and free high-speed internet to rooms. In 2012, under the "Perfect Mix" initiative, the company completed upgrades to the lobbies of its hotels adding more social space. Hampton continued to renovate its spaces with a campaign introduced in 2013, directed towards younger clientele that included in-room mini-fridges, new bedside tables with power access, updated bathrooms, and updated hotel exteriors. Hampton by Hilton has been ranked in the top 5 in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 from 2010-2015.
Locations
Hampton by Hilton includes over 2,000 hotels in 17 countries around the world. An overwhelming majority of Hampton's properties are located in the United States with more than 1,900 hotels. Hilton owns the Shady Grove Memphis, Tennessee Hampton hotel, and manages 64 other Hampton hotels. The rest of the hotels are independently owned and operated by franchisees. The brand's first international location opened in Niagara Falls, Ontario in 1993. Hampton operates more than 65 locations in the Americas outside the U.S.
Starting in May 2007, the brand began to operate as Hampton by Hilton exclusively abroad at its locations in Canada and Latin America. In 2009, the first "Hampton by Hilton" signage was put in place in the United Kingdom with the opening of the brand's first European location. The brand continued to operate internationally as Hampton by Hilton until 2015, when Hilton Worldwide announced that the official brand names of Embassy Suites and Hampton would include "by Hilton" at all of their locations.
In October 2014, the Hampton by Hilton brand launched in China through a licensing agreement with Plateno Hotels Group. The first of 400 Chinese Hampton hotels opened in 2015. A similar agreement with the Wasl Asset Management group will bring Hampton by Hilton to Dubai.