HILTON - TOURISM PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1: Aims and Objectives of Blog Report
Tourism Product Management involves strategic planning with development and maintenance of elements that present a compelling travel experience (Fletcher et al., 2018). This blog report is built upon the exploration of “tourism product management” and overall industry analysis. Aim of this report is to clarify tourism product understanding along with major tourism industry elements. The objectives of the report are to explore the tourism product of Hilton, a leading hotel group in the UK. Further, challenges and opportunities of tourism product management will also be explored. Through the objectives of this report, the overall tourism industry will be analysed.
1.2 Report structure
Firstly, through the report, tourism products will be explained along with clarification of key features. Function of major components of the tourism sector will also be highlighted. Then it will go to the section of stakeholder analysis where organisational background and its current operational state will be included. Discussion will be based on the identification of some key stakeholders of Hilton along with key competitors. Before conclusion, internal state will be discovered through SWOT analysis with explanation of sustainable strategies of Hilton.
Chapter 2: Examining tourism product and the role of components within Tourism industry
2.1: Understand tourism products and their components and features
As per the opinion of Happ et al. (2023), tourism products such as tours or accommodations, transportations, attractions, activities, dining, and cultural experiences which are all designed to satisfy their leisure or business needs at a destination. Additionally, the accommodations of tours business include hotels, resorts, apartments, hostels, as well as other types of lodging options. For example, Hilton offers a wide range of accommodations such as luxury and premium to focused-service and extended stay options (hilton.com, 2025). In addition to this, transportation includes airlines, trains, buses, rental cars, and other modes of transportation to get around a destination. As a result, this business offers various transportation resources for visitors through “Hilton Honors app”, “Lyft app”, “airline apps”, “greeters”, “tour guides”, and even police department details for events which can help ensure the quality of the experience meets individual standards and expectations (hilton.com, 2025). In fact, the organisation also partners with “Destination Management Companies (DMCs)” for airport transfers and other destination needs. According to Napitupulu et al. (2021), tourist attraction is a place, event, or activity of natural beauty, cultural significance, as well as historical importance where tourists visit for pleasure, interest, as well as amusement. Hence, the business often offers services to help guests to explore nearby attractions based on guest interests. As a result, Hilton hotels can provide tickets to popular attractions on behalf of guests which can help this business to attract customers by saving tourists time and hassle. As mentioned by Souza-Neto et al. (2023), tourism, "activities" can refer to the actions and behaviours of visitors during their travel from sightseeing and experiencing local culture to participating in sports or attending events. For example, Hilton promotes responsible and sustainable travel through its "Travel with Purpose" initiative and encourages guests to engage with local communities and experiences (hilton.com, 2025).
Figure 1: Tourism Product and Components
(Source: Happ et al. 2023)
2.2: Identifying role of components in the Tourism Business
Accommodations are a fundamental pillar of the tourism industry which helps to fill essential shelter and services for visitors to enjoy destinations and contribute to local economies (O’Halloran, 2025). Additionally, accommodations make it possible for tourists to visit other locations and experience different cultures and attractions. In addition to this, it can directly contribute to the local economy through generating revenue from guest stays, meals, and other services. Aviation can play a very crucial role by facilitating global connectivity which allows passengers to reach tourism destinations. Aviation can directly contribute to supporting millions of jobs in related sectors (Florido-Benítez, 2024). As a result, this business should partner with a navigation company where it can reserve seats for its clients which might help them to attract consumers where consumers can attract easily by saving time to search flight and other transportation services. Furthermore, if this organisation arranges transportations such as taxi, airport, as well as private tours to and from attractions for guests which can help this business to attract new customers and gain profitability. Therefore, the core of tourism business is the attraction place which helps to drive economics, enhance tourism experiences, support local culture as well as importance of quality and sustainability (Leask, 2022). Hence, this business can guide visitors as well as purchase tickets of popular attractions to give to their guests which can help consumers to save time and hassle which will make it easy to build trust and loyalty. Different types of activities help businesses to attract a wider range of tourism and increase the likelihood of repeat visits (Camilleri, 2018). Therefore, this business should support and encourage guests to participate in history buffs, local culture and traditions, sports, as well as other types of places related activities which can help customers to create lasting memories and positive experiences.
Chapter 3: Discussion on Stakeholder Analysis
3.1: History of Hilton with organisational discussion
Hilton is a hospitality organisation that has a global presence and the company is involved in the activities like management, franchising and leasing of hotels and resorts.
Early Years of Hilton
Organisational history of Hilton started with the buy of Mobley Hotel by Conrad Hilton in the year 1919 (hilton.com, 2025). In this way, it has evolved into an international hospitality giant having different brands. 1925 was the year when The Dallas Hilton appeared as the first hotel. Then, 1946 was the year when Hilton Hotels Corporation was founded and categorised on NYSE or New York Stock Exchange (hilton.com, 2025). In the year 1948, “Inter-Hilton Hotel Reservation System” was introduced by Hilton that is basically a precursor to the modern system of reservation. After that, 1954 was the year when “The Hotels Statler Company” was acquired by Hilton for 85.81 million GBP and at that time, it was the largest transaction of real estate at that time. After a lot of evolution in 1967, Trans World Corp acquired Hilton International that led two different businesses operating under the name Hilton.
Modern Hilton
In 2007, Chris Nassetta joined Hilton and started applying a transformation of corporate culture that had been built upon staff engagement and a sense of objective and purpose. Talking about modern Hilton, in 2019, Hilton had been identified as a global industry sustainability leader by Dow Jones Sustainability Indices or DJSI for different consecutive years (hilton.com, 2025). Now the focused area of Hilton has highlighted employee engagement with a commitment to the creation of positive social and environmental impact. In its present era, the values of the company are focused on the HILTON acronym where the values are such as “Hospitality, Integrity, Leadership, Teamwork, Ownership, and Now”.
Figure 2: Core values at Hilton
(Source: Fachada, 2023)
3.2: Current state of Hilton along with its current operational strategy supported by statistical information
As of current data and information, Hilton group has a large global footprint surrounding almost 8,000 establishments and 24 brands. Even, as per the report of statista.com (2025), revenue of Hilton Worldwide reached over 8.49 billion GBP. Talking about the number of Hilton hotels across the world, it has been found that in 2023, the company recorded the highest value of the leading hotel brands across the world, valuing at 9.07 billion GBP (statista.com, 2025). Moreover, the largest growth pipeline has been acquired by the company in business history in the year 2023 (hilton.com, 2025). Talking about the Key Personnel of Hilton, current President is Christopher J. Nassetta and CEO (hilton.com, 2025).
Global expansion
Besides, as of current information, Hilton has been experiencing record development within its luxury brands, expanding internationally with some new openings in major places like Costa Rica, New York, Osaka. Apart from that, in the major area to focus, it can be said that luxury brands of Hilton have experienced a valuable growth with more than launching of 500 properties within sought-after destinations (hilton.com, 2025). Examples of those luxury brands are Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, NoMad Hotels, LXR Hotels & Resorts and many more. In current operational strategies of Hilton, customer experience has also been targeted along with an aspect of innovation and technology. Environmental impact has been reduced by Hilton. By the year 2030, the goal of Hilton is to consider initiatives like water conservation, waste reduction along with carbon emission reduction (hilton.com, 2025).
Some specific examples
Talking about some specific examples of growth aspects of Hilton, it can be said that Hilton has been rapidly expanding in Asia-Pacific regions and India and China are the key targets that have aimed to target approx. 1,000 trading hotels in that region. In fact, the 2025 Trends Report of Hilton has predicted that 2025 is the year of Year of the "Year of the Travel Maximizer," emphasising travellers' trend seeking to balance adventure along with relaxation, focusing on travel experiences (hilton.com, 2025). In fact, it can also be said that the company has set such a tone that has been aligned with both customer and employee perception which has made the company justified in terms of a global brand. Talking about Hilton’s loyalty program, it can be said that members have the opportunity in earning and redeeming points for different benefits. This Hilton Honors loyalty program has developed operational efficiency (Zhou et al., 2021). Lastly, in the context of Hilton’s operational efficiency, the driving factor of organisational culture has been included that has enabled the operational strategies to more realistic ones. With current operational strategies, Hilton has now been benefited in terms of customer experiences, satisfaction, and profitable development. Customers have been retained by its loyalty programme that has maintained the operational flow.
3.3: Outlining competitors of the Hilton Hotel and their impact within organisation
In the United Kingdom, as the ‘Hilton hotel’, good known hotel chains, however, they have lots of competitors in their business operations. These competitors are ‘Travelodge’, ‘Premier Inn’, ‘Holiday Inn Express’ and more. Travelodge is mainly known as a UK based budget hotel chain and they have operated more than 600 hotels which have over 47,000 rooms acrossing the UK, Ireland as well as Spain (travelodge.co.uk, 2025). In the year of 2023, the organisation reported revenue over £1 billion for the first time reflecting their strong performance (statista.com, 2024). Apart from that, they have also offered the well-priced to their customers as well as best locations for stay that helps to increase the customer loyalty. Therefore, in the future their affordable pricing and best location providing strategy can significantly impact the organisation Hilton hotel and they can get less customers booking within their hotels. Apart from that, Premier Inn is also known as the hotel chain which is much bigger in the United Kingdom; they also have over 800 accommodation facilities across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany. These numbers significantly indicate that their business has very extended within the UK also. Premier Inn also caters to business travellers with convenient locations, rates which are more flexible, as well as partnerships with Travel Management Companies (TMCs). Therefore, this can also have a significant effect within the Hilton hotel business and as these organisations acquire more customers that ultimately affects the overall revenue of the Hilton hotel. In addition to this, ‘Holiday Inn Express’ is also a significant hotel brand in the UK who currently have 146 hotels in the UK and they are also the competitors of the Hilton hotel. Holiday Inn Express also offers their guests a free hot breakfast with fresh, hot, healthy, and kid-friendly options that also make them different from the others. Moreover, across the UK, Hilton hotels have a total of 100 hotels, which is one of the negative sides of the organisation and it prevents them from staying competitive within the hospitality market of the UK (b.co.uk, 2025).
Figure 3: Competitors of Hilton
(Source: self-made)
3.4: Analysing the Hilton’s stakeholders and their hopes from the business
Employees
In the tourism sector skilled employees are crucial for delivery quality services, creating memorable experiences as well as providing guests with the best satisfaction which help businesses to make guests repurchasing their services. As a result, this hotel business operates a wide network of hotels and resorts across various countries with employed approx. 181 thousand individuals across the world which contributes to its substantial global workforce (statista.com, 2025). In addition to this, Hilton can make more inclusive and supportive environments for its team members by offering various benefits such as daily pay, stock purchase programs, and comprehensive health insurance. As a result, Hilton is committed to “lifelong-learning” and providing resources to help team members reach their full potential and meet their career dreams (hilton.com, 2025).
Figure 4: Employee of Hilton
(Source: statista.com, 2025)
Partnerships
Partners can allow business to pool resources, infrastructure as well as expertise which can lead to more efficient operations and a wide range of services offering. Hilton has various partnerships, including a global ambassador partnership, a strategic licensing agreement, and a partnership with "Be My Eyes" for accessibility, and collaborations to boost business performances (hilton.com, 2025). Additionally, partnerships can lead to more cost-effective operations, boost the visibility of hotels and others for all involved. Besides these, the business can facilitate the creation of unique and memorable experiences for tourists by collaborating with local community partners. As a result, this business should collaborate with government agencies and private companies to enhance tourism infrastructure and attract international tourists.
Chapter 4: Evaluating the problems and benefits that related with ‘tourism products management’
4.1: ‘SWOT analysis’ of Hilton Hotel
4.2: Explaining sustainable strategies of Hilton Hotel
In the operational process of Hilton hotels, they have several sustainability initiatives. In addition to this, the main aim of the Hilton is to protect as well as preserve those destinations where they operate their business. However, climate change is a critical problem that creates challenges for our planet and accordingly it also poses challenges for the travel as well as tourism industry and for this reason Hilton has given the high priority to mitigating the environmental impact within their operations. Apart from that, Hilton is also trying to meet the expectations of those customers who are given value to the sustainable and conscientious travel. Therefore, to meet all this they have now built and operated sustainable green hotels within their operational process. Hilton hotels also made checklists for the sustainable design of their stakeholders to effectively support the informed decisions about sustainability. The organisation is also working towards the ‘off-site renewable energy procurement’, ‘end-of-life equipment replacement’, ‘high-efficiency retrofits’ and ‘electrification measures’ to maintain the sustainability. They also work closely with their hotels, our suppliers, and our community partners to mitigate the water consumption and improve the water availability (esg.hilton.com, 2025).
Figure 5: Sustainability Strategy of Hilton
(Source: esg.hilton.com, 2025)
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion
From the above business blog report it has been found that tourism product management has helped tourism business to strategic planning and maintenance of elements that present a compelling travel experience. Additionally, tourism products such as tours or accommodations, transportations, attractions, activities, and cultural experiences have been highlighted in this study. In addition to this, Hilton business provided a wide range of services through “Hilton Honors app”, “Lyft app”, “airline apps”, “greeters”, and “tour guides” which has been noted in it. Furthermore, in the UK, as the Hilton hotel, competitors such as Travelodge, Premier Inn, Holiday Inn Express and more which have been derived in this study. As a result, complimentary free breakfast, and sustainability programs approaches have been provided in this study.
Recommendations
In the hospitality industry competition is one of the major factors to sustain effectively (Hossain et al., 2021). As in the UK, Hilton has a small presence therefore, they can look for different locations in the UK and expand their business across the UK. Apart from that, they can also invest more within their sustainability programs that ultimately reflect their initiatives towards sustainability and they can attract more environmentally friendly customers who are mainly choosing those companies who have significantly maintained the sustainability within the operational process. In addition to this, to stay competitive within the hospitality sector in the UK market they can offer the complimentary free breakfast for their guests that helps to retain more customers and large revenue they can get.
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