Hilton chooses TBWA for regional creative

Hilton Hotels and Resorts has appointed TBWA Singapore as its agency of record for regional creative, Campaign has learned.

A TBWA spokesperson confirmed the win.

The pitch began in November and wrapped up just before Christmas.

The appointment follows TBWA's victory in the global Singapore Airlines pitch, and its promotion of Ara Hampartsoumian from managing director to chief executive of the Singapore office.   

Hilton has ambitious plans for APAC. The company, which just moved into a new APAC headquarters in Singapore, says it has doubled its footprint in Asia Pacific in recent years and now has more than 750 hotels open or under development in the region. 

Already this year, the company announced new openings in the Chinese cities of Taizou, Chengdu and Guangzhou, and signed an agreement to build a 308-room hotel in Yangon, Myanmar.

Worldwide during 2018, Hilton opened 450 new hotels, expanding to eight new countries and territories, including the Philippines. As of 31 December its development pipeline totaled more than 2,400 hotels in 103 countries and territories, including 35 countries and territories where it does not currently have any open hotels.

Last week the company reported its Q4 and annual results for 2018. Net income and adjusted EBITDA
were $225 million and $544 million, respectively, for the quarter, lower than the previous year ($730 million and $484 million, respectively) but exceeding Wall Street expectations. For the full year, net income and adjusted EBITDA were $769 million and $2.1 billion, respectively, compared to $1.09 billion and $1.91 billion, respectively, in 2017.