Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Hilton launches new luxury brand

Hilton Hotels Corp. on Tuesday launched a new luxury brand named after its landmark Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York as part of its plans to expand internationally after a recent acquisition.

The Waldorf-Astoria Collection, which would compete with other luxury hotel brands such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.'s St. Regis and Marriott International Inc.'s Ritz-Carlton, would be a combination of co-branding existing hotels and new properties, said Chief Operating Officer Matthew Hart.

"We are not doing it as a response to them," Hart said, referring to Starwood and Marriott. "We are doing it because we think there is a big opportunity .... We have the potential to go into markets that before this we couldn't."

Click Here for Full Article