Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and franchises a broad portfolio of hotels, resorts, and timeshare properties.

[7] In October 2016, China's HNA Group agreed to acquire a 25 percent equity interest in Hilton from Blackstone.

In August 2009, the company moved to Tysons Corner, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near McLean.

[15] In 1927, Hilton expanded to Waco, Texas,[16] where he opened the first hotel with air-conditioning in public areas and cold running water.

With this pair of acquisitions, Hilton established the first hospitality company to span the contiguous United States.

[20] The company was incorporated in 1946 as the Hilton Hotels Corporation and subsequently began public trading of shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

[26] Barman Ramon "Monchito" Marreno claimed he created the piña colada cocktail at this resort.

[30] The Hotels Statler Company was acquired in 1954 for $111 million in what was then the world's most expensive real estate transaction.

[40] To appeal to female travelers, many properties offered floors occupied by only women along with distinct amenities for their usage.

[41][23] The iconic Hilton hotel logo, which features the stylized "H" in a circle, was created in 1969 by the legendary graphic designer Saul Bass.

Bass was also responsible for designing logos for other well-known brands, including AT&T, United Airlines, and the Girl Scouts of the USA.

[51][52] In 1998, Hilton spun off its gambling operations into a separate, publicly held company called Park Place Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment, Inc.)[53] In 1999, Hilton acquired Promus Hotel Corporation, which included the DoubleTree, Red Lion, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites brands.

[56] UAL was reorganized as Allegis Corp. in an attempt to re-incarnate itself as a full-service travel company, encompassing Westin Hotels and Hertz rental cars in addition to Hilton International and United Airlines.

In 1987, after a corporate putsch, the renamed Allegis sold Hilton International to Ladbroke Group plc, a British leisure and gambling company, for $1.07 billion.

"[58] In 1997, to minimize longtime consumer confusion, the American-owned Hilton and British-owned Hilton International companies adopted a joint marketing agreement, under which they shared the same logos, promoted each other's brands, and maintained joint reservation systems.

At that point, the Vista chain was phased out, while Conrad was restyled as one of the luxury brands of Hilton, operating hotels within the U.S. and abroad.

[66] In February 2009, Hilton Hotels Corp. announced that its headquarters were moving from Beverly Hills, California to Fairfax County, Virginia.

[7] The company announced in February 2016 that Hilton would turn its hotel holdings into a real estate investment trust.

[70] In February 2016, Hilton announced its intention to spin off its timeshare and real estate businesses, creating three independent public companies.

[75] Hilton's business model for its various brands is based on largely on franchising rather than direct ownership and management of properties.

[77] The franchise model makes Hilton Worldwide a more profitable company along with increasing its value for shareholders due to it having less capital and being able to focus more on its brand.

[79] There are four levels of elite status within the Hilton Honors program including Member, Silver, Gold, and Diamond.