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Business Analysis CASE 1 BUILDING CAPABILITIES AT THE WESTWARD HILTON
Written by Cathy A. Enz of Cornell University, David L. Corsun of the University of Denver, and Linda Canina of Cornell University.The case study is adapted from a case written by the authors and published in Case Research Journal. The names of the organization and its members have been disguised at the request of the owners and investors. The affiliation with the Hilton Brand was not altered.
Sitting in the fashionable Cafe Lupe, an upscale restaurant owned by the company Peter Green worked for, were the company's owners, investors, and top corporate personnel. Hiller Hotels, a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent Hiller Enterprises, was headquartered in Phoenix,Arizona, with a portfolio of more than a dozen midscale and upscale hotels and three trendy, upscale restaurants. The hotel group was gathered for one of its irregular, informal celebrations of success. As Green, the executive vice president of operations, raised his glass to join in the merriment, he wondered whether his facial expression gave away the feelings he was suppressing. Green was torn-earlier in the day this same group discussed the possibility that the Westward Hilton and Towers, the only property in the Hiller portfolio he had personally ever run as a general manager, might be sold. An inquiry from a REIT (real estate investment trust) as to the property's availability had prompted the discussion. The Hiller Hotels subsidiary owned and managed all of its hotels, branding them with a variety of different mid priced and upper-priced hotel franchisers. The portfolio had grown over a 12-year period to around a dozen properties at any given time. The number wasn't stable because the corporate strategy was to take advantage of opportunities to buy undervalued, underperforming properties and turn them around. Each hotel was operated as a fully self-sufficient operation. When the opportunity to sell a property at a healthy
Written by Cathy A. Enz of Cornell University, David L. Corsun of the University of Denver, and Linda Canina of Cornell University.The case study is adapted from a case written by the authors and published in Case Research Journal. The names of the organization and its members have been disguised at the request of the owners and investors. The affiliation with the Hilton Brand was not altered.
Sitting in the fashionable Cafe Lupe, an upscale restaurant owned by the company Peter Green worked for, were the company's owners, investors, and top corporate personnel. Hiller Hotels, a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent Hiller Enterprises, was headquartered in Phoenix,Arizona, with a portfolio of more than a dozen midscale and upscale hotels and three trendy, upscale restaurants. The hotel group was gathered for one of its irregular, informal celebrations of success. As Green, the executive vice president of operations, raised his glass to join in the merriment, he wondered whether his facial expression gave away the feelings he was suppressing. Green was torn-earlier in the day this same group discussed the possibility that the Westward Hilton and Towers, the only property in the Hiller portfolio he had personally ever run as a general manager, might be sold. An inquiry from a REIT (real estate investment trust) as to the property's availability had prompted the discussion. The Hiller Hotels subsidiary owned and managed all of its hotels, branding them with a variety of different mid priced and upper-priced hotel franchisers. The portfolio had grown over a 12-year period to around a dozen properties at any given time. The number wasn't stable because the corporate strategy was to take advantage of opportunities to buy undervalued, underperforming properties and turn them around. Each hotel was operated as a fully self-sufficient operation. When the opportunity to sell a property at a healthy