HILTON Hotels has made its first major acquisition since a failed attempt to buy ITT Sheraton two years ago.
The $4bn acquisition of US-based Promus, which owns the Doubletree, Embassy and Hampton chain of hotels, now gives the group a more diverse portfolio of properties covering all-star categories.
The purchase takes the Hilton portfolio to 1,700 properties worldwide and is seen by analysts as bringing it onto an equal footing with Starwood and Marriott.
n Thistle Hotels saw a fall in pre-tax profit from £44.5m to £36.2m in the half-year to July 11 1999, following the disposal of 35 regional hotels.
Chairman David Newbigging said that although the sale of hotels had resulted in lower profit and turnover for the first half of the year, the quality of the company’s hotel portfolio was now much higher.