Thursday, January 22, 2009

hilton hotels on potential silver spring move: "that's hot"

Paris Hilton no longer has a stake in the company that bears her surname, and the joke's kind of tired . . . but whatever. Photo courtesy of casasroger.

Mega-hotel chain Hilton Hotels is moving its headquarters from Beverly Hills to the D.C. area, according to the Post. Many see the move as an attempt to give main competitor Marriott a final showdown for hotel supremacy. Here at Just Up The Pike, we see this as an opportunity for the east side to get one over on Bethesda, Marriott's home town. (Never mind that their official address reads "Washington, D.C.")

In other words: Ike Leggett better be showing Hilton some choice office space in Silver Spring, because why would they want to park themselves under Bill Marriott's nose when they could stare him down from across Rock Creek Park? I mean, they must be familiar with the place, given that Choice Hotels International's already set up shop in Burnt Mills (their headquarters appear on their website) and, of course, Hilton just opened two new hotels on Colesville Road across from one of their existing hotels.

And as the Hilton Silver Spring's website says, our fine city has "all the advantages of a metropolis with the charm of a Montgomery County suburb . . . with Washington DC just a few minutes away via the DC Metro." (If you're listening, Hilton CEO Christopher J. Nassetta, we're on the same side of the Red Line as Capitol Hill, putting you within reach of all those congresspeople you want to lobby for whatever it is hotels lobby for.) It also notes that Silver Spring is "the perfect place to host your special event [i.e. recruiting session for disgruntled Marriott employees] or wedding [i.e. in case Paris Hilton and Good Charlotte's Benji Madden - who is from Waldorf! - ever get back together]."

Sounds like Hilton's already made their decision to me, but MoCo better play it safe and start throwing money their way to keep them from moving to Virginia like Marriott threatens to do. And once we get them safely in our talons, we can start planning those nuptials right here in Silver Spring. I say they should exchange vows on Ellsworth. The emo kids/teenage hipsters will deny having ever listened to Good Charlotte, but they'll appreciate seeing Paris in an ironic, semi-appreciative sort of way.

6 comments:

Sligo said...

From Beverly Hills to Silver Spring... With all due respect to Silver Spring, that's a bit of a drop off.

Dan Reed said...

Sounds like the intro to a hilarious comedy about a dour hotel magnate who mistakenly locates his new company in the 'hood (with all due respect to Silver Spring, of course) and learns how to loosen up (and breakdance like a mutha) with the help of a rag-tag group of small-business associates from the wrong side of the tracks.

Thomas Hardman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sligo said...

- The hotel executive will have an unlikely love affair with a much younger (enter minority here) woman who will bring out his humanity.

- He will regularly receive sage business advice from a homeless man at McDonald's.

- The antagonist will be a county executive (in cahoots with the executive's evil ex-wife) who will try to foil the CEO's plans with excessive regulations.

- In the end, he will create a wildly successful line of hip-hop hotels.

Thomas Hardman said...

So, which hotel on the wrong side of the tracks will he buy by accident? Motel 6 or maybe Day's Inn? Or whatever place it is that the cops are all pouncing on with both feet?

If the latter, you get to add some excitement and a story-arc of "watching the detectives".

Sligo said...

Not going to happen:

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/02/02/daily57.html

As usual, an completely non-public-transportation-accessible sprawl town in Virginia wins out.