Hilton Announces Top Developers for Focused-Service Brands

• 
  SAVE
• 
  SHARE
• 
  TEXT SIZE
• 
  PRINT
• 
  COMMENT
• 
  PDF

. October 14, 2008

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, January 31, 2006. Hilton Hotels Corporation announced its top developers and hotels during its Focused Service Brand Conference for Hampton Inn(R), Hampton Inn & Suites(R), Hilton Garden Inn(R) and Homewood Suites by Hilton(R) held in Orlando, Florida, January 17-18, 2006. The conference was attended by more than 1,100 guests, including owners, operators and Hilton corporate team members.

Each brand recognized a Developer of the Year for the developer who had the greatest number of project approvals or who developed one or more unique hotels that helped enhance the brand's image in 2005. Together, the brands also recognized a multi-brand developer with a Developer of the Year award who made significant contributions to the Hilton Family of Hotels with the most number of project approvals in 2005. To be considered, all hotels in the candidates' Hilton Family portfolio had to be rated high-quality and in good status, and could represent a combination of new projects, renovations and conversions.

The recipients of the Developer of the Year award are:

 Multi-Brand Award Winner

Howard Porter & Tom Hunt

The Hotel Group, Inc.

Auburn, Ala.

Homewood Suites by Hilton Huntsville-

West/Madison, Ala.

Hilton Garden Inn Macon/Mercer University, Ga

 Hampton

Corry W. Oakes, III

OTO Development, LLC

Spartanburg, S.C.

Hampton Inn Garden City, N.Y.

Hampton Inn & Suites Las Vegas, Nev.

Hampton Inn Cypress, Calif.

 Hilton Garden Inn

Darko Vranich

Vrancor Development Corporation

Burlington, Ontario

Hilton Garden Inn Toronto/Burlington -

Ontario Canada and Hilton Garden Inn

Niagara-on-the-Lake - Ontario Canada

Hilton Focused Service Conference Awards 2-2-2-2

 Homewood Suites by Hilton

Terry L. Hall, James J. Matuszak, Joe A. Romkema, Jeff Good

HRC Hotels, LLC

East Lansing, Mich.

Homewood Suites by Hilton Indianapolis Airport/Plainfield, Ind.

Homewood Suites by Hilton Downtown Indianapolis, Ind.

Homewood Suites by Hilton Bloomington, Ind.

Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton also presented awards for Deal of the Year and Best Conversion, which recognizes the tremendous commitment of time and effort many owners devoted to building a particular brand's hotel and converting an existing hotel to the particular brand.

The recipients of the Deal of the Year award are:

 Hampton

LaNise and Leo Burke

Martis Creek Inc.

Truckee, Calif.

Hampton Inn & Suites Tahoe/Truckee, Calif.

 Hilton Garden Inn

Sam J. Friedman

Dimension Development Company, Inc.

Natchitoches, La.

Hilton Garden Inn San Antonio Rivercenter -

San Antonio, Texas

 Homewood Suites by Hilton

Atul Patel

HMB Management Inc.

Allentown,, PA

The recipients of the Best Conversion award are:

 Hampton

David H. Snell

Highgate Holdings, Inc.

Irving, Texas

Hampton Inn Times Square North - New

York, N.Y.

 Hilton Garden Inn

David H. Snell

Highgate Holdings, Inc.

Irving, Texas

Hilton Garden Inn Times Square

New York, NY

Hilton Focused Service Conference Awards 3-3-3-3

In addition, each Hilton Family focused-service brand presented an Outstanding Achievement Award to recognize the developer's support of Hilton and the focused-service brands of Hampton, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton. Each recipient is committed to growing the respective brands and the Hilton Family by investing in the development of new hotel projects.

The Outstanding Achievement award winners are:

 Hampton

Stephen L. Schwartz

First Hospitality, Inc.

Rosemont, Ill.

Hampton Inn Chicago - Downtown - Chicago, Ill.

 Hilton Garden Inn

Walter E. Thompson, Jr.

Thompson Hotels, Inc.

Grasonville, Md.

Hilton Garden Inn Kent Island -

Kent Island, Md.

 Homewood Suites by Hilton

Dave Toor

Manga Hotels International

Mississauga, Ontario

Homewood Suites by Hilton Toronto International Airport - Toronto, Ontario Canada

"We are pleased to present Howard Porter and Tom Hunt of The Hotel Group with the multi -brand Developer of the Year award," said Bill Fortier, senior vice president - franchise development, Hilton Hotels Corporation. "The accolade represents our appreciation of their commitment to excellence to the Hilton Family of Hotels, from design state to post-opening."

Multi-Brand Developer of the Year

The Hotel Group, Inc. (THG) is an independent hospitality management and development company headquartered in Auburn, Ala. THG currently has seven Hilton Family properties in its portfolio, including the Hampton Inn Tupelo in Tupelo, Miss., and Hampton Inn Troy in Troy Ala.; three Hilton Garden Inn hotels in Ala., including the Hilton Garden Inn Auburn; Hilton Garden Inn Huntsville and Hilton Garden Inn Montgomery; in addition to the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Montgomery, Ala., and the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Huntsville, Ala. In addition to managing properties in the growing Alabama and Mississippi markets, THG also manages hotels in Philadelphia/Franklin Mills, Penn.; a Hampton Inn in Manhattan/Seaport, N.Y.; a Hilton Garden Inn in Dover, Del., and in Macon/Mercer University, Ga.

Hampton Developer of the Year

Headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C., OTO Development, L.L.C., is the latest hospitality company launched by H. Wayne Huizenga and George D. Johnson, Jr. The company was established to build premier select-service and extended-stay hotels in certain high-barrier-to-entry U.S. markets. Since its inception in 2004, OTO Development LLC has been awarded 11 license agreements by Hilton, including 10 Hampton hotel properties in California, Nevada and one the east coast, and a Homewood Suites by Hilton in Fresno, Calif.

Hilton Garden Inn Developer of the Year

Hilton Garden Inn presented the Developer of the Year award to Vrancor Development Corporation. Based in Burlington, Ontario Canada, Vrancor Development Corporation and Vrancor Hospitality Management is a multi-brand development and management company which has two Hilton Garden Inn hotels in Toronto/Burlingame and Niagara-on-the-Lake. In addition, there are 10 properties currently under construction or in the development phase throughout Southern Ontario.

Homewood Suites by Hilton Developer of the Year

HRC Hotels was recognized as Developer of the Year by Homewood Suites by Hilton. Jeff Good of HRC Hotels is an enthusiastic brand champion who has a vision of Homewood Suites by Hilton as a 500-unit brand. Along with his partners, Terry Hall, Jim Matuszak and Joe Romkema, he's doing his part by developing four great Homewood Suites by Hilton projects so far. He's a super resource who not only serves on our advisory council but also contributes operational solutions to help the brand stay comfortably ahead of competitors in quality, efficiency and financial rewards. In addition to their existing Homewood Suites by Hilton property at Indianapolis airport, Jeff and partners are developing Homewood Suites by Hilton hotels in northwest Indianapolis, in downtown Indianapolis, and in Bloomington, Indiana.

Themed "Sharing Visions, Making Connections" the conference offered opportunities for more than 800 owners to learn, network and build relationships through general sessions, brand-specific meetings, workshops and presentations.