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• Hilton Worldwide is the leading
global hospitality company with
more than 600,000 rooms in
85 countries
• KONE is affiliated with every
Hilton Worldwide brand. It is
currently working with over 400
Hilton properties and franchise
owners around the globe
• KONE is listed as a Strategic
Partner on the Hilton Suppliers’
Connection website, which
provides owners, developers and
architects access to KONE
solutions and technical data
• Over 50 percent of the
equipment KONE maintains
is from 3rd-party manufacturers
PARTNERS IN
GUEST FLOW
program, more of our hotels in their
key markets. We look for opportunities
to bias our chain to company travelers
so we can increase travel market share.
KONE showed a willingness to position
Hilton Worldwide as first choice for
travel.”
“Since Hilton classified KONE as one
of their strategic accounts, our business
has increased,” says Fleming. “We were
recently awarded a modernization proj-
ect and some new installations based on
this strategic relationship.”
For instance, KONE received two
new projects in Nashville and Dallas, as
part of Home2 Suites, Hilton’s first new
brand in two decades. The first Home2
locations opened in early 2011, with
more than 100 planned by the end of
2014 in the US, Mexico and Canada.
As the new chain offers a “green-
focused extended-stay hotel experi-
ence,” the new Home2 brand is a natu-
ral fit for the KONE machine-room-less
(MRL) elevator and the KONE EcoDisc®
hoisting machine, innovations that
can cut energy consumption by up
to 70 percent compared to traditional
hydraulic drives. KONE, which intro-
duced MRL equipment to the US
market, is the leading supplier of this
sustainable technology. Meanwhile all
KONE factories are ISO14001 certified
to meet strict environmental standards.
“We’ve been able to convince them
that it’s more advantageous to use
machine-room-less rather than hydraulic
elevators,” says Fleming. “It’s a sleek
design that offers a smoother ride,
looks good and is beneficial to the
environment.”
Indeed, Perry points to sustainability
as “absolutely one of KONE’s strong
points. KONE has highly sustainable
solutions that are energy-efficient and
can reduce costs. Hilton’s corporate
culture embraces sustainability. We have
specific goals to achieve in sustainability
and KONE can deliver sustainable solu-
tions to support our company’s long-
term goals in this area.”
SETTING THE STANDARDS
In July, Perry and Fleming invited
Hilton’s Design and Construction
project managers to tour sites in
Memphis, where the machine-room-
less KONE EcoSpace™ and KONE
MonoSpace® elevators are in operation.
“The tour brought KONE solutions
to life,” says Perry.
“The goal was to give the project
managers a first-hand look at the ben-
efits of using KONE machine-room-less
solutions versus a hydraulic solution.
“This approach will definitely reap
benefits for KONE, because we don’t
have other elevator companies offering
tours of this type.”
Hilton also invited KONE to take part
in submitting suggestions for escalator
and elevator standards for the whole
chain.
A SEAT AT THE TABLE
While the focus of the relationship thus
far is in North America, KONE is going
to be involved as the hotel company
expands into fast-growing emerging
markets. Two years ago, just 15 percent
of Hilton’s new builds were outside
the Americas. Today, the company has
880 hotels, totaling more than 151,000
rooms, in the pipeline and is expected to
enter several new countries by year-end.
“There will be a lot of opportunity to
expand our relationship and introduce
KONE to our key people outside the
US,” Perry says.
And what else might lie in the future
for this relationship?
“Anything where mobile technology
can be used during a guest stay would
be considered innovative and bene-
ficial,” says Perry. “If a guest can use his
or her mobile device on an elevator to
get to and from the guest room, or if
the room key could be programmed
so that the guest does not have to press
any buttons on the elevator but rather
can wave the room key in front of an
electronic eye – these would be interest-
ing solutions to consider.”
“KONE Destination Control Systems
(DCS) are being utilized more and more
in the hotel environment,” explains
Fleming. “When a guest swipes his or
her card key at the lobby level, it will
automatically know what floor to go
to and which elevator is the closest to
respond to that call.”
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