In this type of situation, the exact words matter. Sometimes guests hear the word "corporate" and hear "Hilton". Other times, it's the hotel employee that will read a memo and confuse the two terms.

Many franchise hotels are owned by companies that operate multiple properties. Those companies will have a corporate office. This is a separate corporate office from the chain's corporate office.

Hotel employees (particularly ones at limited or selective service hotels) aren't typically educated about the structure the industry. Or, if they are, they tend to forget it because they are more concerned with learning the critical functions of their new job.

My guess is that the corporate office of the company that owns this franchise made this decision. It's a policy that only applies to hotels owned by that company. In explaining the policy, the employee failed to adequately describe the situation.