Founded in 1919 by Conrad Hilton. Hilton bought his first hotel, the Mobley Hotel, in 1919 in Cisco, Texas.

In 1930, Conrad Hilton opened his first high-rise Hilton hotel in El Paso, Texas, which is currently called the Plaza Hotel.

Hilton became the first international hotel chain with the opening of the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San juan, Puerto Rico.

John Lennon and  Yoko Ono held their first Bed-In for Peace between March 25 and March 31, 1969 at the Amsterdam Hilton in Room 902. This room has become a popular tourist destination.

Hilton Hotels owns and manages several other hotel brands, catering to both business and leisure travel. These brands are Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, and Homewood Suites by Hilton.

HHC was granted the naming rights to the George R. Brown Conventation Center in late 2003. The Hilton Americas in Downtown Houston, Texas, is connected to the convention center.

Hilton is the flagship brand of Hilton Hotels Corporation and is based in Beverly Hills, California. It is one of the world's largest chains of hotels.

The Hilton brand was re-united internationally after more than 40 years in February 2006, when United States-based Hilton Hotels Corporation purchased the lodging arm of United-Kingdom-based Hilton Group PLC, which had acquired Hilton's international operations in 1987 (the companies had been severed originally in 1966).

Hilton Hotels became America's first coast-to-coast hotel chain. The company places marketing emphasis on business travel, but owns and operates a number of resorts and leisure-oriented hotels as well.

The chain has over 500 Hilton branded hotels across the world and has partnerships with many airline and car rental companies.