Hilton to Expand Curio, Tapestry Brands

By Barbra Murray

The Porter Portland, Curio Collection by Hilton

Hilton has big plans for Curio Collection by Hilton and Tapestry Collection by Hilton. The international hotel giant recently announced that the two collection brands have a combined 75 hotels in the pipeline.

Providing unique, upper upscale accommodations, Curio made its debut in 2014, and last year marked the launch of Tapestry, an upscale portfolio of independent hotels. “We have new conversion brands that are working, with Curio, with Tapestry…so I’m pretty confident, based on our track record, based on the sort of weapons in our arsenal, we’ll be able to get the conversions that we need,” Christopher Nassetta, president & CEO of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., said during the company’s third quarter 2017 report on October 26, 2017. “So, I think looking at 2018, 2019, I think looking, as we said at our Analyst Day this time last year, I think we have pretty good sightlines.”

Hilton expects to increase the number of Curio flags to more than 100 by 2020. Six Curio properties will welcome their first guests in early 2018, including Reykjavik Konsulat Hotel, housed in a historic 1900s-era department store in Iceland’s capital city, and the Porter Portland, which will mark the brand’s first new-build property. Tapestry is on tap to double its portfolio this year and will begin with the opening of The Graham Hotel Washington, D.C., in the city’s trendy Georgetown area, and Hotel Ballast Wilmington, located along the Cape Fear waterfront in downtown Wilmington, N.C.,

Additionally, with a bevy of signed franchise licensed agreements, Hilton plans to bring a host of additional Curio and Tapestry properties online later this year, as well as in 2019 and 2020.

BRAND EXPANSION BOOM

Hilton is just one of many leading international hotel companies planning massive increases to their brand footprints. Pointing to the benefit of scale in diversifying risk, Chris Fernandes, a vice president with global hospitality consulting firm HVS, wrote in a mid-2017 report: “The continued expansion of brands is largely viewed by leaders as a mitigation strategy for the next down-cycle.”

A flurry of announcements regarding expansion plans have emerged over the last month.  Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts will open several hotels and resorts this year, and Marriott will welcome 40 properties with flags from its list of eight luxury brands. Additionally, Hospitality Lodging Systems expects to grow its Budgetel and Haven economy brands via a new 15-year master license agreement for properties in Turkey and Russia, among other international locations.

Photo courtesy of Hilton