purplenightskylovertv

Before there was HGI, there was a brand from almost 30 years ago called CrestHill By Hilton. That brand was designed as the rival to Marriott's Courtyard. What was the reason why 4/25 of the original CrestHill properties came into existence, given that one is now a Four Points (was a Wyndham Garden for a brief period of time)? If a slow estate phase caused 4/25 properties to happen, what caused the slow estate phase? When did the slow estate phase occur?

What did the original CrestHill properties look like, and what did they have? What year did CrestHill truly debut, along with getting abandoned? What was their original rates?

I need answers because the internet won't give me enough.

eponymous_coward

What's a slow estate?

jerry a. laska

I think the OP means a slow real estate phase, or at least that is what Wikipedia says:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_Garden_Inn

Sisosig

Which demonstrates we now also have to deal with fake encyclopedic facts!

"In 2012, the first Hilton Garden Inn outside of the United States (*fake*) was opened in Netherland - the Hilton Garden Inn Leiden. It is located on the Old Rhine River (*fake*), featuring 173 guestrooms and providing all (*fake*) of the brand's signature features."

purplenightskylovertv

That said, don't even trust Wikipedia.

I still need some info. Please help.

Sisosig

Well what info do you need that isn't available on the net?

Year opened and what did they look like on the outside:

• Southfield (Detroit) - 1988 - Looks like a converted office building or even a Hilton turned HGI, with a HGI entrance area added to it. (Sliding doors, lounge and fireplace, breakfast room/restaurant, small reception desk).
• Buffalo Grove (Chicago) - 1989 - Looks simular to Lancaster - triangular and half-circle design elements.
• Lancaster (Philadelphia) - 1990 - Look just like Buffalo Grove.
• Valencia (Los Angeles) - 1991 - Same layout as Buffalo Grove and Lancaster, but terracotta southwest style roofing

These are the years the hotels opened, so they had been planned a couple of years before. Black Monday, the huge stock market crash, when Dow Jones fell 23%, took place on Oct 19, 1987. This was followed in 1989 by the Junk Bond Crash and bankruptcy of investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert.

What more info do you need? Why do you need it anyway?

Edit: Not fully certain about 1988 for Detroit-Southfield, planning to come back to it in a later post.

purplenightskylovertv

Have you even asked the HGI Southfield if they were an office building at one point? And why did the slow real estate phases have to happen? Were there any other locations out of the 25 that didn't come to fruition?

Sisosig

Like I tried to explain, the world was in an recession by the time the first Cresthils opened. I assume when the brand was launched in the late eightees, the portfolio manager must have professed they were planning to open 25 Cresthils per year. Because of the recession, with 50% occupancy rates, no investor was interested in starting a new Cresthil or reflag their property at a very high cost. That will explain only four ever existed. Also I think the ones that existed were some sort of an experiment. They still had to work on the formula. (Note, added in 2022: if you go through this whole thread, at some point you'll see that even the number of 'four' original Cresthils is greatly exaggerated.)

The Hilton people in Beverly Hills must have thought the Cresthil brand got a false start because of the crisis, and maybe they found out by interviewing customers, that people liked the inner courtyard garden-part of the brand. So (this is my assumption) they relaunched the brand in 1990 as Hilton Garden Inn. Even if it had been planned earlier as a Cresthil, every hotel after 1991 launched as Hilton Garden Inn.
*-*-*
Addition, made one year after.
Hilton was offering a standard 156-bedroom Cresthil by Hilton blueprint to investors at a cost of $85000. They just needed to add 3.5 acres of land and utilities. This explains why Buffalo Grove, Lancaster and Valencia had the same layout. The brandname was changed into Hilton Garden Inn in late 1991.

Los Angeles Times, Dec 20, 1987:
Mini-Hilton Hotel With 156 Rooms Set for Camarillo

A $12-million, 156-room mini-Hilton Hotel, the first of its kind for the chain, will be built at Las Posas Road and Daily Drive, Camarillo, with construction to begin early next year.

The two-story hotel, named Cresthil, an economy version of the Beverly Hills-based chain of luxury hotels, will have two small meeting rooms to accommodate 25 to 35 guests. The restaurant will be geared toward guests only and will have limited menu. Rooms will rent for $65 to $75 a night.

purplenightskylovertv

Wikipedia says HGI came in 1996-is that true? I can't trust Wikipedia. And the four original CrestHill designs were based off the debut-era Courtyard Marriotts.

Sisosig

My suggested '1990' as first year of operation for HGI was based on what the franchise documents say. (But maybe they weeded out the Cresthill-by-Hilton brand):

purplenightskylovertv

Hilton Inns? What the heck is that?

purplenightskylovertv

garden inn started in 1990, but wikipedia says 1996...what the hell?

purplenightskylovertv

I keep reading on the internet that Hilton Garden Inn began in 1990, but Wikipedia says 1996. Which one is more accurate? Wikipedia is not the most reliable.

P.S.: I'm sorry if I haven't posted in awhile, I've been busy.

mbluecpa

chix