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Purpose and benefits

Conrad Nicholson Hilton pioneered the development of the hotel chain in the United States and across the world. He started as a boy, helping with his parents’ small hotel in San Antonio, New Mexico. After a spell in the army during the first world war serving as a lieutenant, Hilton set out to buy a small bank in Texas. Instead he bought a hotel. One hotel led to another, and despite tough times during the great depression, by the 1950s Hilton had acquired more than 150 hotels in the United States and abroad. His board of directors advised Hilton against expanding his business abroad after the second world war. He ignored them, founding Hilton Hotel International. The international hotels proved extremely popular, especially with Americans who knew they could rely on a Hilton hotel to provide them with a small oasis of United States culture and quality in a foreign country.