Hilton History

Conrad Hilton. Hilton bought his first hotel, the Mobley Hotel, in 1919 in Cisco, Texas.

In 1930, Conrad Hilton opened his first high-rise Hilton hotel in El Paso, Texas, which is currently called the Plaza Hotel.

Hilton became the first international hotel chain with the opening of the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their first Bed-In for Peace between March 25 and March 31, 1969 at the Amsterdam Hilton in Room 702. This room has become a popular tourist destination.

Hilton Hotels owns and manages several other hotel brands, catering to both business and leisure travel. These brands are Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn and Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Conrad, Waldorf=Astoria Collection and Homewood Suites by Hilton. Total number of hotels now under the Hilton brand are 343 managed hotels and 2,242 franchised hotels, with over 105,000 employees as of May 2007.

HHC was granted the naming rights to the George R. Brown Convention Center in late 2003. The Hilton Americas in Downtown Houston, Texas, is connected to the convention center.