Word: hiltons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Into the Pool. Hilton management needs tenacity to face the problems and frustrations of running a worldwide hotel chain. Long before their foundations were laid, most of Hilton's hotels abroad became centers of controversy, sometimes discreetly abetted by rivals. The Communists on Rome's city council battled Hilton for 2½ years before he got a permit; Londoners objected to the Hilton's height and its proximity to Buckingham Palace; Montreal's French Canadians fought for a French name for the Queen Elizabeth. Openings have often been ill-starred; Hong Kong's opening last...
...Conrad Hilton so revels in lavish openings that he sometimes spends as much as $150,000 on one. He tries valiantly to give a little speech in the native language, no matter how disastrously it turns out, loves to mingle with the celebrities and movie stars he has invited. There are other types about, too. The honored guests at the Portland, Ore., opening threw furniture into the swimming pool and made off with the portrait of Hilton that hangs in every Hilton lobby. At the New York opening, some wayward members of the press took their whisky by the bottle...
Drenched Chefs. Once the hotels open, the bugs that develop during the shakedown period can reach plague proportions. Except for the top supervisory people, Hilton overseas hires locals almost exclusively. In Cairo it broke tradition by hiring women to wait on table. The girls were reluctant at first and flatly refused to wear frilly aprons because they are a symbol of service. Now the jobs are coveted not so much for the higher pay as for the chance to meet eligible men. In Athens a maid who was warned to be thorough in her cleaning dismantled a guest...
...Hong Kong Hilton was nearing its opening date when authorities discovered that the $100,000 worth of Chinese furniture and decorations in the hotel had been imported from Red China in violation of U.S. law that American citizens cannot deal with the Red Chinese; it all had to be replaced with substitutes. In London the automatic-elevator doors closed so fast, the telephones worked so sporadically and the Muzak system sometimes shrieked so loudly that Hilton had to dispatch experts from the U.S. to straighten things out. The air-conditioning failed in one of the New York Hilton...
...Brash Intruder. Most cities around the world are delighted to have a Hilton, and scores vie for them. A Hilton is a boon to the tourist business, since many Americans (who make up about 50% of all Hilton's guests) will go more readily to a city where they can find a modern hotel with a reassuringly familiar name. Egypt's take from tourism increased $12 million a year after Hilton moved in; Turkey gained $2.5 million in foreign exchange. A Hilton usually forces other hotels in the area to improve their standards (their celebrated old-fashioned personal...