Hilton Worldwide Holdings traces its whole history back to a single purchase: Conrad Hilton buying his first hotel in Cisco, Texas in 1919. From that one building the business grew into a nationwide, and later global, hotel company.
What is easy to miss from the outside is how many different names that one company now operates under. Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Waldorf Astoria, DoubleTree, Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites are not competitors sharing a market. They are brands inside the same parent company, aimed at different kinds of travelers, from budget stays to luxury landmarks, and together they make Hilton Worldwide Holdings one of the largest hotel companies in the world by number of rooms.