Who Owns Hampton by Hilton?

Hampton Inn was founded in 1984 by Holiday Corporation, the parent company of Holiday Inn. The first Hampton Inn opened at 1585 Sycamore View Road in Memphis, Tennessee, as a two-story, exterior-entrance property with 128 guest rooms. The concept was created to compete with emerging budget hotel chains like Fairfield Inn, which Marriott had launched around the same time.

Holiday Corporation hired branding companies to name the new concept but rejected the results as too cheap-sounding. The name came from a travel magazine advertisement for a New England bed-and-breakfast called Hampton House, which a Holiday executive's wife noticed. The idea was to focus on guests' favorite amenities and eliminate costly extras like bellhops, room service, and sit-down restaurants.

In late 1989, after financial difficulties, Holiday Corporation prepared to sell its Holiday Inn hotels and created the holding company Promus Hotel Corporation, which retained Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, and Homewood Suites. Under Promus, Hampton Inn was repositioned from a budget hotel to a middle-market limited-service hotel. The brand moved away from exterior room access buildings in favor of taller buildings with indoor corridors. The original Memphis location eventually closed in 2005 due to this shift.

The first Hampton Inn outside the United States opened in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1993. The brand expanded to Europe in 2009 with its first UK location. Starting in 2007, the brand began operating internationally as Hampton by Hilton. In 2015, Hilton announced that the official brand name would include "by Hilton" at all locations.

In 1999, Hilton Hotels Corporation acquired Promus Hotel Corporation for $3.7 billion, bringing Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, DoubleTree, and Homewood Suites into the Hilton portfolio. The deal was one of the largest in the hotel industry at the time. The acquisition gave Hilton a presence in the upper-midscale limited-service segment, where it had not previously competed.

Under Hilton's ownership, Hampton introduced several innovations that drove growth. The brand patented an idiot-proof alarm clock design. Hilton surveyed guests and decided to differentiate Hampton by offering free hot breakfast, a significant upgrade from the cold breakfasts common at competing limited-service hotels. The brand sourced a liquefied egg product that could be scrambled in hotel microwaves at sufficient quantity to supply over 1,000 hotels. The signature Hampton waffle became a beloved brand symbol.

Hampton also introduced the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, promising guests a full refund or a complimentary night if they were not satisfied with their stay. This policy aligned franchisee interests with guest satisfaction and helped drive rapid growth.

The 1,000th Hampton Inn opened in Hayward, California, in 2000, achieving the milestone faster than any other hotel brand of comparable size. By 2024, the brand had grown to over 3,000 properties in 40 countries and territories with approximately 350,000 rooms. Hampton has been the top US hotel brand for franchisees for 16 consecutive years according to Entrepreneur magazine.