Hilton is a brand of hotels owned by Hilton Hotels Corporation, a private subsidiary of the Blackstone Group (BX). The Hilton brand was founded in 1919 in Texas and later in 1943 became the first coast-to-coast hotel chain in the United States. Hilton is the leading global hospitality company, with 3000+ hotels and 500,000 rooms in more than 80 countries worldwide. They currently employ roughly 100,000 team members. Chris Nassetta is the current CEO, and Ian R Carter is the President of Global Operations.

One of the crown jewels to the Hilton Hotel family is the Grand Wailea Resort in Wailea, Hawaii, on the island of Maui. This oceanfront beach resort is situated on 40 acres of land, has 780 guest rooms, and is covered with lush gardens and greenery. It features a large water fountain, and 6 different dining options. Across the street is the Wailea Golf Club, a championship golfing resort complete with 3 separate courses to choose from.

1. 1919: Conrad Hilton buys the Mobley Hotel in Texas
2. 1930: First high-rise hotel in El Paso, TX
3. 1954: Hilton becomes largest hotel company in the world with acquisition of Statler Hotels
4. 1964: Splits international branch to separate company, Hilton International Co.
5. 1998: Creates Caesars Entertainment
6. 1999: Acquires Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, and other brands with the Promus Hotel Corporation
7. 2005: Re-acquires Hilton International
8. 2007: Bought by Blackstone Group for over $20 billion

In 1925 in Dallas, Texas, Conrad Nicholson Hilton built the first official Hilton Hotel. By 1931 he owned a total of 8 hotels, however none of them wre profitable and he was forced to default on his original loan. The Moody Family of Galveston, Texas, the same people who gave him the loan to begin with, purchased the hotels from him, and then hired Hilton to manage the hotels. Just a few years later there was an ugly split between the two parties, and a lawsuit ensued. The Moodys were also unable to turn a profit from the hotels, and they too had to default on their loan.

Conrad was able to raise enough money to buy back one hotel at a time. The first was the Sir Francis Drake hotel in San Francisco, California. Over the next few years he would purchase three more properties, one in Los Angeles and two in New York City. After World War II, for the first time ever, Hilton would begin to turn a profit on the hotels, leading to the purchase of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. In it's first year the Waldorf-Astoria made $1 million in profits alone.

In the 1960s Hilton started franchising hotels as a way to turn more profit without having to be hands on. In the 1970s Conrad's son, Barron, would be introduced to the business and would immediately begin purchasing additional properties. The first two were casino-hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada, which in time would prove to be the companies most profitable hotels.

Conrad Hilton would pass away in 1979, and his son Barron became Chairman of the board. He would hold the position of CEO until 1996, when he relinquished the title to Stephen F Bollenbach.http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Hilton-Hotels-Corporation-Company-History.html