Staff writer
The top management of Hilton International Co. and Hilton Hotel Corp. are on a fact-finding mission to look into expanding their presence in Japan, possibly through investment in property, according to the chiefs of the two companies.
International hotel firms usually participate in managing inns with small equity investment and do not own properties themselves. But with the recent economic slump, the price of land in Japan has fallen to a level where such firms can expect enough returns, said Stephen Bollenbach, president and CEO of Hilton Hotels Corp. and Peter George, chairman of Hilton International, a company under the Ladbroke Group of Britain.