Hilton GardenInn® Salutes Best of the Brand at Annual Hotel Performance Awards Ceremony

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., March 10, 2005 - Hilton Garden Inn®, the award-winning upscale mid-priced brand targeted to today's growing segment of mid-market travelers, proudly saluted its top hotel performance award winners for 2004, during a presentation held at the brand's Focused-Service Brand Conference on February 14-17, 2005, in Las Vegas.

"I'd like to congratulate this year's award recipients for their remarkable efforts. These hotels and the dedication and enthusiasm of their owners, general managers and team members are what drives the success of our brand," said Adrian Kurre, senior vice president - brand management, Hilton Garden Inn. "With more than 220 Hilton Garden Inn hotels now open across North America, Hilton Garden Inn is quickly becoming the preferred hotel of choice of travelers."

2004 HOTEL OF THE YEAR - HILTON GARDEN INN LAKE MARY

Jamie Ross, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn Lake Mary -- Florida, accepted on behalf of the hotel. The Hilton Garden Inn Lake Mary was recognized, as a result of their top overall 2004 results on the Balanced Scorecard. The hotel ranked above all other 200+ Hilton Garden Inn hotels, in loyalty, brand standards compliance, cleanliness, physical condition and overall service and had zero brand standard violations. This recognition marks the second time that the Hilton Garden Inn Lake Mary has received the esteemed accolade in the award's four year history.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMANT AWARD

To recognize the efforts of Barbara Bejan, hotel general manager for the Hilton Garden Inn LAX/El Segundo in California, over the years, the brand presented Barbara with the first-ever Hilton Garden Inn Lifetime Achievement Award and renamed the General Manager of the Year accolade to the Barbara Bejan General Manager of the Year Award. Barbara has been able to achieve high scores year after year in RevPar, ADR, occupancy, guest loyalty, brand consistency and team member loyalty.

"Barbara not only meets her numbers year after year, but she is an extraordinary team builder and developer of people," said Kurre. "She has been a mentor and inspiration to hotel team members who have moved on to become general managers, themselves, at other hotels."

2004 BARBARA BEJAN GENERAL MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Judy Judkins, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Meyers -- Florida, received the Barbara Bejan General Manager of the Year Award. Ms. Judkins was selected from several nominations by Hilton Garden Inn hotel owners, regional directors and brand support teams across the country. "The team at the Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Meyers tells us that Ms. Judkins leads by example, who works tirelessly until the job is done, always watching out for her associates, her guests and her community and continues to bring in numbers that WOW," said Kurre. "Both her boss and her team claim she is the 'Ultimate' in Ultimate Service."

The following Hotel Performance Awards were presented as a result of year-end 2004 scores and results from the Hilton Garden Inn Balanced Scorecard, a tool used by the brand to measure and track overall performance of each Hilton Garden Inn hotel in various key performance indicators: Customer Loyalty Tracking Survey, Quality Assurance, and Brand Management and Product Standards.

PRIDE MERIT AWARD

Our Pride Merit Award represents our second and third position on the Balanced Scorecard. Achievements for recognition must be equal to or greater than the brand system in all measured categories in the Brand Scorecard. Our second place Pride Merit Award for overall 2004 results was given to Max Patel, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta North/Johns Creek - Georgia. The third place Pride Merit Award was presented to the Hilton Garden Inn State College - Pennsylvania, represented by Vicki Wilkins, hotel general manager.

GUEST LOYALTY AWARD

The Hilton Garden Inn Lake Mary - Florida was recognized with the Guest Loyalty Award with loyalty scores well above 93% and maintaining the highest year-to-date scores for a 12-month period - systemwide - on the brand's guest survey system, the Customer Loyalty Tracking Survey.

MOST IMPROVED LOYALTY AWARD

The Most Improved Loyalty Award was presented to hotel general manager, Charles Oswald, and the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa East/Brandon - Florida, for an increase in Loyalty Scores over the year - from 109th place to 8th place in 2004.

MOST IMPROVED HOTEL AWARD

The Hilton Garden Inn Daytona Beach - Florida, represented by general manager, Richard Pazmino, received the Most Improved Hotel Award having shown the greatest improvement in their Balanced Scorecard over a 12-month period from 2003 to 2004 showing a 90 place improvement in the Balanced Scorecard ranking.

HILTON HHONORS® LOYALTY AWARD

The Hilton HHonors Loyalty Award was presented to general manager, Mike Szudarski, and the Hilton Garden Inn St. Charles - Illinois, with Hilton HHonors® reservation contribution above the brand average and their Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking scores for those same HHonors members also far exceeding brand averages.

RAMP-UP AWARD

The Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham/Lakeshore Drive - Alabama, was awarded the brand's Ramp-Up Award for 2004. The hotel achieved 100% market penetration in Occupancy, ADR and REVPAR the quickest and maintained it to date. Hotel general manager, Brian Berry accepted the award on behalf of the hotel.

BEST COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT AWARD

The Hilton Garden Inn Bridgewater - New Jersey, was presented with the brand's Best Community Service Project for their special "Grow A School Garden" endeavor. The hotel worked with Rutgers University - showing that a small garden program can blossom into an educational program targeting special needs students. What began as a garden program is now a representation of what community service is all about, helping students learn not only to garden but about what our industry can offer in terms of careers. This year's Best Community Service Project Award goes to general manager, Dionne Dabney and the team at the Hilton Garden Inn Bridgewater in New Jersey!

SERVICE RECOVERY AWARD

The Hilton Garden Inn Lake Mary - Florida showed that this hotel was proactive in meeting and exceeding their guests' needs as are just as quick to resolve those few that do arise.

PROBLEM AVOIDANCE AWARD

The Hilton Garden Inn Calgary Airport - Calgary, Canada, represented by hotel general manager, Joy Styles was recognized with the Problem Avoidance Award. The general manager and team members at the hotel have taken the initiative to be proactive in their CRM (Customer Really Matter) initiatives and overall service that their percentage in problem avoidance with guests is well below that brand average.

OWNER OF THE YEAR

The Owner of the Year accolade was presented to Bob Ray and his partners, Duane and Carl Hoover from Southern States Management. The Suwanee, Ga., -based company has developed two full-service Hilton Hotels and are active supporters of the Hilton Garden Inn brand with three open hotels and a fourth currently under construction. On every project, they have pushed the envelope looking for ways to upgrade the Hilton Garden Inn brand. Their first project, the Hilton Garden Inn Lake Mary in Lake Mary, Florida, was the original hotel prototype and has consistently been one of the top performing properties in the Hilton Garden Inn system, including being named Hotel of the Year in 2001. Southern States Management is currently working on a 125- room Hilton Garden Inn hotel to be located in Northwest Atlanta which will include a 700-square-foot exercise facility; a 700-square-foot ballroom; 3,000 square feet of additional meeting rooms; two upgraded suites and 16 mini-suites.

Hilton Garden Inn also presented awards to in the following categories to developers and owners:
DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR
HP Hotels
Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham/Lakeshore Drive, Ala. and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

BEST CONVERSION OF THE YEAR
Airline Hotels Ltd.
Hilton Garden Inn Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

DEAL OF THE YEAR
Roedel Companies, LLC
Hilton Garden Inn Manchester, NH

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Raymond Management Company
Hilton Garden Inn Chicago O'Hare Airport, Chicago, Ill.,

About Hilton Garden Inn

For the past three years, Hilton Garden Inn has received the distinguished "Highest Guest Satisfaction Among Mid-Scale Hotel Chains with Full Service" award in the 2004, 2003 and 2002 J.D. Power and Associates North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index StudySM. Hilton Garden Inn developments represent one of the cornerstones of the Hilton franchise growth strategy. More than 350 Hilton Garden Inn hotel properties are currently open or under development in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Hilton Garden Inn is the award-winning, mid-priced brand offering complimentary high-speed Internet access in all hotel guestrooms and secure remote printing to the hotel's 24-hour business center. The Hilton Garden Inn brand is part of Hilton Hotels Corporation; recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company.
For more information on Hilton Garden Inn hotels in the U.S., Canada and Mexico or to make reservations and discover your next getaway ideas, please visit www.hiltongardeninn.com or call 1-877-STAY-HGI in the U.S. and Canada.

CONTACT:
Agnes Sibal / Jeanne Datz Rice
Hilton Garden Inn Brand Communications
310-205-4545
agnes_sibal@hilton.com / jeanne_datz_rice@hilton.com