Hilton to launch new three-star hotel brand

Hilton will announce a separate three-star brand by the end of the year, it said last week.

Chief executive officer Anthony Harris said that the hotels to be rebranded would come from Hilton's existing portfolio in South America and the 154 Scandinavian Scandic hotels that Hilton bought in April.

A strong contender for the new name is thought to be Doubletree, one of the trading names held by US sister company Hilton Hotels Corporation.

In the UK, Hilton has had an uneasy history with the naming of its four-star hotels. For 14 years, until the name was scrapped last year, Hilton's four-stars in the UK were known as Hilton Nationals. Chief executive David Michels thought that the name was a mistake, and all were changed to Hilton on the assumption that guests would realise that the Hilton in Bradford was four-star and the Hilton in Park Lane was five-star.

Hilton International's first-half figures exceeded expectations but showed that the US economic slowdown and the effects of foot-and-mouth had made their presence felt from April onwards. The group faces further uncertain trading conditions in the second half but said it had "genuine cause for optimism".

After a 27% rise in first-quarter profits, first-half profits rose by 13.8% to £126.3m. This excluded £35m earned mainly from the sale and leaseback of 11 hotels to the Royal Bank of Scotland in March. Turnover for all owned and managed hotels was up, to £1.13b from £1.02b.

At Hilton's 80 UK hotels, which account for nearly a quarter of its total portfolio, pre-tax profit was up 19.3% to £70.2m and turnover was up by 7% at £301m. UK revenue per available room was also up, by 6.3%, to £60.90.

by Ben Walker