Word: hiltonization
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...Hilton has been a middling performer, even though its earnings increased last year about 40%, to $121.7 million on sales of $1.65 billion. But the company carries little debt and can borrow money more cheaply than most competitors, a considerable advantage because in Bollenbach, 54, Hilton has one of dealmaking's master players. Indeed, there's barely a major hotel company that doesn't bear his imprint. "He is the best in the hotel business," says Bjorn Hanson, head of hotel-industry practice at Coopers & Lybrand, an accounting and consulting firm. "He has demonstrated that in what he has done...
...Hilton, which got into the habit of building big, if not oversize, full-service hotels in major cities, is now in the penthouse. Says Bollenbach: "What is absolutely certain is that no one is going to build a $500 million hotel across the street from you. Today you are very, very lucky if you are an owner...
After barely six months at Hilton, Bollenbach has added a layer to the empire bequeathed by former CEO Barron Hilton, the son of founder Conrad. Last month the company agreed to buy Bally Entertainment's hotels and casinos, adding 4,826 rooms to Hilton's collection of 99,105 and, more important, giving Hilton two gambling tents in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a place now fairly bursting at the seams with wage burners. "He's brilliant and a terrific guy," says Trump, the once and future king of Atlantic City, whose own company can't build rooms fast enough...
...world full of overpaid CEOs, Bollenbach is demonstrably worth the money. The day that Hilton announced his appointment as CEO, the company's stock shot up 21%, or more than $750 million. For the Bally Entertainment deal, Hilton anted up $2 billion and assumed $1 billion in debt but paid with Hilton stock, then trading at $113.75--or worth about $1.9 billion more under Bollenbach...
...luxe prices investors paid in the '80s for upscale hotels, it costs about half as much to buy one today as it does to build one. Case in point: the Four Seasons in New York City, opened in 1993 for about $500 million, was recently sold for $190 million. Hilton is shopping for big properties, "because the competition isn't as fierce when you start talking about spending $50 million or $100 million...