Hilton to open more Waldorf, Conrad hotels in China, add 40,000 jobs

Hotel giant Hilton Worldwide plans to add about 40,000 employees in China over the next few years to staff its various new properties, despite growing industry concern about an economic slowdown in the world's No 2 economy.

The Virginia, US-headquartered hotel chain operator, bought by private equity firm Blackstone in 2007, planned to focus on expanding its top luxury hotel brands, including Waldorf Astoria and Conrad, according to John Vanderslice, global head in charge of the firm's luxury hotel business.

"Five years ago, when Blackstone invested in Hilton, we only had five Waldorf hotels in the world, and now we want to be the fastest growing luxury hotel in the world," Vanderslice said, adding that the focus of the expansion would be in Asia, and in particular, mainland China, given economic difficulties in the United States and Europe in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.

"It's difficult to do a new hotel in our traditional markets like Europe and America. That is really linked to financing. The traditional banking relationship changed after the financial crisis," he told the South China Morning Post in Shanghai, where the company opened its first Waldorf hotel outside the US about two years ago.

He said Hilton did not have a "definite plan" to add hotels in Hong Kong, either, citing the same financing challenges as in Europe and the Americas. He described Hong Kong as "a market that has high barriers due to high costs" which discouraged hotel operators from expanding their operation there.

The firm planned to open five more Waldorf hotels in Asia by 2017, Vanderslice said, adding that four of the five would be in the mainland, including one in Beijing and one in Chengdu and two on the well-known resort island of Hainan.

At the same time, the group planned to open 11 Conrad-branded hotels in Asia by 2020, including seven on the mainland, following its opening of Conrad Beijing in March, Vanderslice said.