Hilton Launches New Meetings-Oriented Brand

New York – At a press event here today, Hilton announced the launch of Signia Hilton, a meetings and events-focused brand.

David Marr, senior vice president and global head, full-service brands, said the brand will eventually be global but with the first locations set for Orlando, Indianapolis and Atlanta – all in prime convention locations. They will eventually be in other urban centers, as well as resort areas. Most will be newly built, while others will be conversions, as is the Orlando property, which is currently a Hilton.

CEO Christopher Nassetta said the brand would not be in the luxury category, like Hilton’s Conrad and Waldorf-Astoria, but “at the upper end of upper upscale” so developers can spend more money on items more important to meetings rather than on luxury furniture finishes and five-fixture bathrooms.

The executive said the time is right for hotels of this kind because meetings hotels “skipped a generation” after the Great Recession because they are very expensive to build.

With a minimum of 500 guest rooms and 75 square feet per room of meeting and event space, the brand will have several signature elements, including:

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– Impressive arrivals: Using design and landscaping, the brand will aim for a “wow” arrival moment.

– Lobby experiences: The space will double as a lobby and social destination.

– Modern guest rooms: They will feature innovative technology.

– Destination bar: Each hotel will feature a bar tied to the location

– Signature restaurant. All food and beverage will aim to be far superior to traditional banquet food in a convention hotel.

– Premium wellness experiences. This will include spas and lavish fitness centers.

– The meeting experience itself. This will be the centerpiece of Signia Hilton Large ballrooms and pre-function areas will feature smart design paired with the newest technologies to elevate today’s meetings. As the modern meeting attendee is looking for spaces that inspire innovative thinking, said an announcement, the small to mid-size meeting rooms will feature unique design and technology that spark new ideas and optimize work and collaboration.

Marr said the brand name emerged from the word insignia, meaning status or power, as well as signature. The logo is written in cursive like a signature. He said there would not be hundreds of hotels because large meeting hotels can only be built in certain places and take years to develop.

Marr said there had been extensive conversations with meeting planners about making life better for them and their attendees. While details are still being developed, there might be technology like heat and cooling controls from the HHonors app so meeting planners could have more control over meeting environments

And Danny Hughes, executive vice president and president, the Americas, said that personalization was a goal so that planners could know exactly what a meeting would be like even before it happened – how far a walk to meeting rooms, etc.

Signa Hilton is Hilton’s 17th brand. Unlike less expensive brands it does not have the “by Hilton” designation like lower priced brands because it is a full-service product.