“Hilton Hotel Plan Result Of Confidence In N.Z.”

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29182, 18 April 1960, Page 13

“Hilton Hotel Plan Result Of Confidence In N.Z.”

NEW YORK, April 16. The deal for the association by Hilton International and Stanhill Consolidated, Ltd., will be the biggest international hotel deal in the world, a Hilton spokesman said today.

Mr Robert Caverly, a Hilton vice-president and principal negotiator in the deal, said at a press conference in New York that, as the deal had been signed only late last week, many details still remained to be worked out.

The agreement envisaged a series of stock issues as each new hotel planned was built. Hilton International would have a claim in up to 25 per cent, of the issue. The total value of the new developments was estimated now at about 75 million dollars.

Mr Caverly said Stanhill had taken steps to acquire a site In Auckland, but that he was not at liberty to give any details yet. He said the financing and operation of the Auckland venture would be the same as in Australia.

The hotels to be run by the chain would be known as “Chev-ron-Hilton,” followed by the name of the city. Mr Caverly said that in cities such as Brisbane. Perth, Newcastle and Auckland the present plan was for “a motel-hotel,” with a motel section integrated with a tower-type structure. The hotels would have banquet, convention and other facilities on a scale unprecedented in -those cities. The 10 Chevron-Hilton hotels in Australia and New Zealand would have a total of 4000 rooms. Mr Caverly said Hilton’s confidence in the economies of Australia and New Zealand led the firm to change its usual system of obtaining an interest in hotels

outside the United States. Hilton usually only manages hotels in foreign countries and does not contribute to the capital cost of building them. Mr Caverly said the Australian and New Zealand ventures were the first where Hilton had made a financial commitment of any size. Hilton will have a small financial interest In two hotels being built in Holland. Mr Caverly said the Hilton organisation had made a careful study of the economies and tourist potential of Australia and New Zealand. The situation was such that the organisation had no hesitation in contributing to the financing of the new chain, he said. Sir Norman Hulbert. M.P.. a Stanhill director, said that though the agreement between Hilton and Stanhill Consolidated, LtcL, was 84 pages long, many details of the operation of the partnership) especially in connexion with existing Chevron hotels in Australia, were still under discussion. Sir Norman Hulbert said the agreement came too late to allow Hilton to participate “from the ground up” in the operation of the Chevron hotel to be opened in Sydney in July.

The new Chevron-Hilton Melbourne would be the first in which the Hilton organisation would be “in from the beginning,” Sir Norman Hulbert said. He disclosed that the present Chevron hotel in Melbourne would go out of business as a hotel when the new building was opened.