Hampton by Hilton Leader Discusses the Brand’s Growth

Hampton by Hilton has continued to expand since the company celebrated the opening of its 3,000th hotel in 2024, a year that marked the brand’s 40th anniversary and its entry into its 40th country. With over 800 hotels in development, Hampton has built on this positive momentum; in January, the brand debuted in Africa with the opening of Hampton by Hilton Sandton Grayston. Additionally, in February, Hilton signed a licensing agreement that will bring 75 Hampton by Hilton hotels to India. In a recent interview with LODGING, Shruti Gandhi Buckley, senior vice president and global brand leader, Hampton by Hilton, discussed Hampton’s progress, the brand’s strengths, and its future. 

What does Hampton’s debut in Africa and its growth in India mean for you and the brand as a whole? 

When you think about Hampton by Hilton, we have 41 years of rich history, starting in the mid-tier segment and creating a whole new segment within the Americas called the upper midscale category. So as Hampton continued to evolve, grow, and innovate, we created a whole new category of product. We’ve established this amazing reputation over four decades of being not only a guest favorite but also an owner favorite, in a very lucrative category. When you think about what’s happening in the world and as the middle class is rising in many markets outside the United States, what are consumers looking for? They’re looking for an internationally branded product that’s high quality, that’s consistent, that has a reputation, and that is endorsed by a parent company like Hilton that has strong resonance globally. It’s a trusted brand, and with that, they say, with Hampton being endorsed by Hilton, [it] must be trusted in that mid-tier space. That’s why there’s been this really great momentum over the last 10 to 15 years, in terms of growth, where we’ve entered new markets. 

How do you plan to build on that Hilton reputation and keep the momentum going? 

I’ve always had this philosophy that, when you’re number one, you almost have to fight harder to retain that number-one spot because all of your competitors in the market are looking to narrow that gap. So, it’s easy to be the underdog and move up. It’s much harder to sustain your position in a leadership category or sustain your leadership position within a very competitive category. When you think about the upper midscale category, particularly in the Americas, it’s also highly commoditized. When you think about the base offering, all of the brands within the United States offer a fairly straightforward offering. It’s sort of an all-inclusive pricing. You get free WiFi, and you get your free breakfast. So, what Hampton has done beautifully, in terms of sustaining its leadership position, is continuous evolution and innovation, and always looking to create a best-in-class experience. That’s how we’ve been able to sustain our leadership position.  

What’s the significance of Hamptonality? How does it set Hampton by Hilton apart from other brands? 

What has set this brand apart from the rest is a very unique service culture that has come to life, all backed by Hampton’s hundred-percent guarantee. We were the first brand in the industry to introduce a guarantee, and that’s been a cornerstone of what each one of our team members brings to life, and it’s such a unique proposition that we actually branded it. We branded our service culture as Hamptonality. When you walk into a Hampton, every Hampton may look a little different, feel a little different, but that service culture is what creates that consistency, not just in the Americas, but globally. When you think about the guarantee, [you get] really well-designed, functional, clean, spacious rooms, a high-quality service experience, high-quality breakfast, and we’re nearly everywhere our guests want to travel.  

How has the introduction of Hampton’s new prototype been beneficial to the brand? 

We introduced [it] at the very end of 2023, and we are now seeing it come live into the market. What that has allowed us to do is refresh our offering from an owner standpoint and from a guest standpoint, and we’ve made it more efficient from a cost-to-build perspective, but maintaining all the things that Hampton is known for, great design, modern design, and flexible and very user-friendly, in terms of being very functional from a guest standpoint. We spend a lot of time talking to our guests and understanding our guests, both our existing travelers and our up-and-coming travelers. So, we’re always thinking about that and keeping a pulse on it. For them, it was increasing the level of user-friendliness and functionality within the room, making sure the public spaces continue to be spaces they will continue to use outside of just breakfast. We redesigned those public areas to be user-friendly throughout the day. Then, in the room, we have continued to study how guests are working and living in their rooms, how they use the bathroom to make sure that it’s as functional as possible. Those are all things that we’ve incorporated into this latest design, so it’s doing what we’ve always done, but it’s now leveraging the latest, greatest research to make sure, both from a decor and a design standpoint, as well as from a functionality standpoint, [that] the brand continues to remain relevant for the next 40 years. 

How is Hampton by Hilton continuing to innovate and evolve? 

From an innovation standpoint, a couple of things that we’ve done over the last year are coming to fruition. We introduced a new retail program early last year that is helping to not only create a better retail experience for the guest and give them products that they want, but also generate some great revenue and increase revenue for the owner. That’s how we’re always balancing the guest experience from an owner return standpoint. The other thing from an innovation standpoint is, how do we continue to evolve our service experience? So, we’re always looking at what guests are looking for from a service standpoint. We’re always looking at, how can we improve our lighting? How can we improve the flow of traffic? Our technology that we leverage across the enterprise—if you can make it work at Hampton, you can make it work at any of our brands. So, those are all the different ways that we’re thinking about [making] sure that our brand continues to stay relevant, on top, and evolving from an innovation standpoint.