Today, Hilton announced the launch of Signia Hilton, a new brand designed to cater to “meeting professionals and sophisticated business travelers by infusing state-of-the-art technology and design into every aspect of the guest experience.”
Signia Hilton properties will have a minimum of 500 guestrooms and 75 square feet per key of flexible meetings and events space. They will also have modern architecture throughout, thoughtfully designed lobbies with a connection to the local culture, premium guestrooms with leading-edge technology, a destination bar, and a signature restaurant. Signia Hiltons will also offer premium wellness experiences designed to help guests feel their best.
Beyond these amenities, Signia Hilton properties will focus on the meetings and event experience. They will have large ballrooms and pre-function areas with smart design and new technologies. The spaces will be able to adapt to large and small meetings alike.
According to Dave Marr, senior vice president and global head, full-service brands, Hilton, the Signia Hilton journey started several years ago after a dialog with some Hilton owners and investors. “They candidly told us that Hilton would be served well by a convention hotel offering that played in the market segment above our flagship brand of Hilton Hotels & Resorts, but not quite in the luxury category—mostly because when you’re building out 800 to 1,000 guestrooms, you can’t necessarily invest in luxury finishes.” Marr describes.
“We quickly saw the value in such a product, which led us to talk to some meeting professionals who were doing a lot of business with Hilton,” Marr continues. “When talking to them, we asked what would need to be a part of the brand. What they wanted fell into three buckets: First was modern design, second was technology, and third was improving culinary experiences.”
Ensuring that the Signia Hilton product hit all of these buckets was key to the brand’s development, says Marr. “This meetings and events segment of the industry is doing very well. Budgets are growing. So, there’s a need to stay competitive to make sure that budgets continue to grow and that attendees continue to come. That’s what we’re trying to do,” he says.
To achieve these goals, Marr says that Hilton worked with two stakeholder groups—owners and developers, as well as meeting planners. “The meeting attendee of today is very different from the meeting attendee of ten years ago. We needed to make them happy and want to come back for more. And that’s exactly what we’re doing in listening to these two stakeholder groups—making sure we build a hotel that’s relevant in today’s world.”
As of today’s announcement, there are three Signia Hiltons in the pipeline—one in Atlanta, one in Orlando, and one in Indianapolis. Marr says that for now, Hilton is focusing on the U.S. market, but he expects Signia Hilton to have international growth potential.
The launch of Signia Hilton kicks off an eventful year for Hilton, which will also be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019. “In our 100th year of hospitality, we are more focused than ever on providing exceptional experiences to all of our guests–and that includes evolving those experiences to meet their changing needs,” said Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton, in a press release. “We are proud to launch Signia Hilton, which exemplifies our innovative spirit and will raise the bar on what it means to deliver truly customer-inspired hospitality.”
