Hilton’s management shares insight into new brand creation

Phil Cordell is reinventing himself, and plans to alter at least part of Hilton’s future as a result. After a brief sabbatical to recharge, the former patriarch of the Hampton by Hilton brand finds himself as the company’s global head of new brand development.

Cordell is responsible for the inception and development of new Hilton brands and cultivation and enhancement of existing brands in development.

During a break at last week’s Americas Lodging Investment Summit, Cordell said he is hitting the ground running as Hilton explores multiple growth opportunities. It’s no secret that the company is working on additional brands—during Hilton’s third-quarter conference call, president and CEO Chris Nassetta outlined his expectations to launch several new brands in 2018.

“One that we’re working on now is an urban micro brand,” Cordell said. “It’s one that would exist in an urban environment, smaller guestrooms, really hyper-charged food and beverage opportunities. We’re in the midst of planning and pulling together thoughts on that now.

“There are a couple other things in the pipeline that we’re just starting to kind of think about and make sure we get involvement and thought into,” he added.

He declined to comment on brand names, launches dates and other details.

The new role does present some learning curves for himself and for Hilton, Cordell said.

“We’re going to kind of learn and create along the way,” he said. “Hilton has always looked for an opportunity to think about having brands that fit a customer’s needs and expectations, and an owner’s needs and expectations. In the past, that’s been somewhat decentralized by category.

“Now what we’re doing is taking the opportunity to centralize some of those efforts, sequence out how we think about what the right opportunities are: When is the right time for those opportunities? Is it the right opportunity?” Cordell added. “My task will be to lead that effort with a team on behalf of Hilton to help us think about where are those white-space opportunities, and which ones do we jump into.”

The 35-year industry veteran is drawing on previous experience working with new brands at Hilton. In addition to leading Hampton’s growth to more than 2,100 hotels worldwide as global head of focused serve brands, Cordell was involved in the development of Home2 Suites and Tru.

“To see (Hampton) now in 10-plus countries and the pipeline of almost 200 now in China—that’s been an amazing part of Hilton’s history that I’ve been able to be with,” Cordell said. He added that he also is pleased with the reception that Home2 Suites and Tru has received from owners, developers and consumers.