MEMPHIS, Tenn. - April 11, 2001-- Hampton�, the national brand of mid-priced Hampton Inn® and Hampton Inn & Suites® hotels, announced its top hotels, developer and new awards at its annual brand conference in Chicago. 

A number of hotel properties and management were recognized as the brand�s best hotels in 2000 among more than 1,000 Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in the United States, Canada and Latin America. 

Hampton awarded its first place Pinnacle Award to the 116-room Hampton Inn� Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., open since 1999.

Second place Pinnacle Award went to the Hampton Inn & Suites in Mooresville, N.C., and third place went to the Hampton Inn� Lexington Historic area in Virginia. Winning hotels were recognized as the �best of the best,� based on their high rankings for quality, guest satisfaction and business performance. 

Two-thirds of the scoring was related to customer feedback measured through guest satisfaction surveys on the hotel, as well as product quality and service scores measured quarterly by the company. The remaining one-third of the criteria was based on the hotel�s overall financial performance in 2000. 

�The competition to be in the elite group of Hampton Pinnacle Award winners grows stronger each year as the brand continues to grow,� said Phil Cordell, senior vice president of brand management, Hampton Inn. �These hotels have set themselves apart from their competitors by implementing strategies that result in high returns and building a strong team of employees committed to exceeding guests� expectations.� 

For the first time in the brand�s history, Hampton presented an award this year for Developer of the Year. Two developers were honored in this category: Jeff Raymond of Raymond Management Inc. out of Madison, Wis., and Ronald Kendall, president of Buffalo Lodging Associates out of Canton, Mass. Having a relationship with the Hampton brand for more than 10 years, Raymond Management has 13 Hampton hotels currently in operation. Buffalo Lodging Associates, in partnership with Benderson Development Co., is completing a more than $12 million renovation and historic rebuild for a Hampton Inn & Suites in Downtown Buffalo, N.Y., slated to open this May. Kendall also is working with Hampton to build more new hotels. 

Another historic hotel rebuild that the Hampton brand recognized this year with the award for Best Adaptive Re-Use is the 288-room Hampton Inn & Suites New Orleans - Convention Center hotel, which opened March 1999. Located near the Port of New Orleans and originally built in the early 1900s to house a rice, bean and coffee shipping company, this new Hampton hotel was honored for its efforts to showcase and preserve the historical ambiance of the original building. Its hardwood floors, hand-hewed beams and unique tower section have made it a historical landmark. 

Another inaugural award announced by the brand this year was for Conversion of the Year, presented to the Hampton Inn� Daytona Beach Shores hotel on South Atlantic Avenue near the Daytona Beach International Speedway and Ocean Center in Florida. 

Due to the very defined and branded exterior look of Hampton hotels, conversions are not prevalent in the brand, especially in the case of older hotels. This Hampton Daytona property, developed by Altavista Hotels, was renovated down to its bare walls at a cost of $34,000 per room to turn a dark property into a �bright and airy� hotel with the high-quality look and feel of a Hampton. 

�We have so much to be proud of at Hampton, just coming off of a stellar year,� said Cordell. �These hotels deserve special recognition for their commitment to deliver the amenities and services that Hampton customers trust in, as well as the high customer satisfaction that results in the brand�s award-winning performance in consumer surveys year after year.�

Hampton also is proud to announce its 37 Pinnacle Award Finalists for 2000 for their outstanding performances. This year�s international finalists are the Hampton Inn in Vancouver (Downtown), Canada, and the Hampton Inn� San Jose in Costa Rica.
 

Hampton is part of Hilton Hotels Corp., recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company. The company develops, owns, manages or franchises 1,900 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties. Its portfolio includes many of the world�s best-known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton®, Conrad�, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®,
Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Harrison Conference Centers®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hilton Grand Vacations Co.®, Homewood Suites® by Hilton and Red Lion Hotels & Inns®.