Hilton is one of the most recognizable hotel brands with more than 4,600 properties worldwide.
There are more than a dozen Hilton hotel brands in their portfolio, with each one providing a different kind of experience.
We’ve therefore put together this list of all the Hilton brands along with what you can expect from each one. Shae and I haven’t had a chance to stay at every single one of these brands yet, so some of the information listed below is based on research rather than our own personal experience.
List Of Hilton Hotel Brands
Waldorf Astoria
This is one of their most iconic brands and is most definitely luxurious. They have more than 25 locations worldwide, about half of which are located in North America and the Caribbean and the rest in Europe and Asia.
Expect unique properties, stunning locations, a personalized touch and the inevitable high price tag.
Conrad
Conrad is another of Hilton’s luxury brands. Although Conrad hotels also have a couple of dozen locations, they’re more widely dispersed than Waldorf Astoria.
You’ll primarily find them in large cities and resort destinations. One of their most well-known properties is the Conrad Maldives which has an underwater restaurant.
Canopy
Hilton include Canopy with Waldorf Astoria and Conrad in their “Luxury & Lifestyle” category, although Canopy appears to be on the lifestyle end of that category.
It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from Canopy hotels. That’s because at the time of writing this post, they only have one hotel which is in Iceland. Based on that hotel’s coffee shop, lounge bar, yoga mats, “local artisinal breakfast” and artwork, they seem to be going for the wealthy hipster demographic.
Hilton
Needless to say, Hilton is the most recognizable of all the Hilton hotel brands. They’re a full-service brand with well over 500 locations worldwide.
You can expect above average levels of service, comfortable rooms and restaurants in each hotel, with Executive Lounges in many of them too. Breakfast isn’t included as part of the room rate, but Gold or Diamond status will get you free breakfast.
We’ve stayed in a couple of Hiltons – Rose Hall in Jamaica and Niagara Falls in Canada – and had a great time at both of them. Rose Hall in particular is an amazing resort, provides excellent service and is all-inclusive with a swim-up bar – what more could you want?!
If you go to the Niagara Falls Hilton, it’s definitely worth getting a Fallsview room:
Curio
Curio is a collection of upscale properties primarily located in the US.
Each hotel in the Curio collection is unique, so you won’t get a cookie-cutter experience staying in one of these.
We’ve never stayed at a hotel in the Curio collection, but my impression is that they’re targeted at guests who want something more boutique than a Hilton but less expensive than a Conrad.
DoubleTree
DoubleTree is one of Hilton’s full-service brands, but is a little more relaxed than the Hilton brand itself. They have restaurants in each of their hotels but breakfast isn’t automatically included in your room rate unless you have Gold or Diamond status.
They do offer free food though in the form of their signature warm chocolate chip cookies. You get one at check-in and you can get more at any point during your stay; simply ask at the front desk and they’ll pull one from their magical warm cookie drawer.
I’ll be honest – I prefer Panera’s chocolate chip cookies, but DoubleTree’s are free so I won’t complain.
Tapestry Collection
I’d love to be able to provide more information about the Tapestry Collection brand, but there don’t appear to be any of these hotels at the moment.
It’s a new Hilton brand that was announced in January 2017 with seven locations already signed up. Hilton have described the Tapestry Collection as “approachable and familiar”, “original and independent” and “refreshingly uncommon with a vibrant personality”.
One of the images that accompanies the press release is a picture of a dude with a beard in a suit on a skateboard, so this brand appears to be going after the wealthy hipster demographic as well. I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t include a photo of artisinal bacon coffee though.
Hilton Garden Inn
The Hilton Garden Inn brand is classed as a focused service hotel. They can be great hotels for business people as they offer a full-service restaurant and bar, room service and fitness centers.
Their cooked-to-order breakfast isn’t included in your room rate, but Gold or Diamond status gets you free breakfast.
Hampton
Hamptons are, in my experience, similar to Holiday Inn Express hotels. They’re limited service, clean, comfortable and include breakfast in your room rate. I’ve found that the breakfast options at Hampton are slightly better than at a Holiday Inn Express.
They’re reasonably priced and there are more than 2,000 of them worldwide, with most being located in the US.
This brand used to be called Hampton Inn but they dropped the ‘Inn’ in recent years.
Tru
Canopy and the Tapestry Collection appear to be going for the wealthy hipster market. Tru on the other hand seems to be aimed at the more budget-conscious hipsters.
They appear to be going after a similar market to Starwood’s brand Aloft (although soon to become Marriott’s brand). Tru hotels include breakfast in your room rate and look like they could be a fun place to stay.
They’re currently only in four locations though – McDonough GA, Oklahoma City OK, Lancaster PA and Murfreesboro TN.
Home2 Suites
If you’re looking for an extended stay hotel, Home2 Suites might be a good option. As the name suggests, all the rooms are suites.
The suites contain a kitchen although you also have breakfast included in your room rate. There are laundry and fitness facilities and they’re pet friendly, so I’m expecting we’ll probably stay in some on our road trip.
Homewood Suites
Homewood Suites rooms consist of one or two bedroom suites with a full kitchen.
The brand is akin to IHG’s Staybridge Suites and Marriott’s Residence Inn as it includes a free hot breakfast and complimentary evening socials during the week.
Homewood Suites can therefore provide great value if you’re looking for an extended stay and don’t want to spend a lot of money on eating out or room service.
Embassy Suites
There are a couple of hundred Embassy Suites locations, most of which are located in North America.
Each room is a two-room suite and so provides a decent amount of space. Your stay includes a free made-to-order breakfast every morning and has complimentary snacks and drinks every night.
Embassy Suites seem to be a little more expensive than Home2 Suites and Homewood Suites, so my impression is that it’s aimed a little more at business travelers.
Hilton Grand Vacations
Hilton Grand Vacations is a brand that’s primarily found in resort areas. They have a “vacation ownership program”, AKA a timeshare program.
If you’re a member of the Hilton Honors loyalty scheme, every so often you’ll receive emails offering you 500,000 Hilton Honors points if you buy one of the timeshares.
How We’ll Be Staying At Hilton Brand Hotels
Given their widespread footprint across the US, we’ll likely spend quite a bit of time in Hilton brand hotels on our 5 year, 50 state road trip.
The brands we’ll probably spend the most time in will be Hampton, Home2 Suites and Homewood Suites. So long as one of us can maintain Diamond status, we might try and stay at some reasonably priced Hiltons too, especially if they have an Executive Lounge (Diamond members get free access).
One of the downsides to Hilton hotels is that they’re not overly pet-friendly. We’re traveling with our dog Truffles, so that limits how many of their hotels we can stay at. Even Hilton brand hotels which do allow pets sometimes have high pet fees.
The Hilton Honors reward scheme can be extremely generous, with the potential to earn over 50 points per dollar during certain promotions. The Hilton Surpass credit card from American Express also has generous bonus categories when spending at grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants, so it’s easy to quickly rack up Hilton points. If nothing else, that means we’ll spend quite a few reward nights in Hilton brand hotels every year.
Your Opinion
What’s your favorite Hilton brand and why? We’d love to hear your views in the comments below.
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