Hilton set to spread its Turkish network

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

The senior executives of Hilton Worldwide, Patrick Fitzgibbon (L) and Mike Collini, pose in front of a cake, symbol of Hilton’s reaching 10,000 rooms in Turkey. Company photo

Hilton Worldwide, the largest hotel company in Turkey, will add three new hotels to its Turkish pipeline, growing the company’s portfolio in Turkey and surpassing 10,000 rooms in operation and under development, executives have said.

“Our plan is to continue to grow the portfolio. We have a very focused strategy to grow in Istanbul and the regional cities, coastal and non-coastal regions, resort areas and all across the country,” said Mike Collini, vice president of development in Turkey, Russia and Eastern Europe, during an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News at the Hilton Hotel in Istanbul yesterday.

The latest hotels to join the development pipeline are in Antakya in 2014, Istanbul Çorlu in 2015 and Zeytinburnu in 2016, said Collini.

Hilton Worldwide increased its opened hotels in Turkey from eight to 24 in the last four years, which is “significant growth,” said Collini. In 2013 they reached 24 hotels in operation and 21 hotels in development across five brands in Turkey, he noted. Hilton is now the largest hotel company in Turkey according to Global STR data, with 6,000 rooms operating and more than 4,000 rooms in the pipeline, he said. The Turkish trading portfolio consists of one Conrad Hotel & Resort, 10 Hilton Hotels & Resorts, six DoubleTrees by Hilton, five Hilton Garden Inns and two Hamptons by Hilton, Collini noted.

“Hilton has a very special relationship with Istanbul,” said Collini, adding that, Hilton Istanbul, which opened in 1955, was the largest hotel in continuous operation outside the United States.

‘We support Istanbul for Olympics’

When talking about Istanbul’s candidacy for the 2020 Olympics, Patrick Fitzgibbon, senior vice president of development in Europe and Africa at Hilton Worldwide, said “This city can deliver a fantastic Olympics. The [factor that] should drive Turkey to be chosen is the capacity for Turkey to drive infrastructure changes, accommodating the growth of the city.”

Fitzgibbon said they were a huge supporter of Istanbul for the 2020 Olympics, adding that in London, as a hotel, they had been involved in supporting the bid.