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Still, Hiltons are not always appreciated, being regarded not only as hotels but as a cultural transplant from America. The local "atmosphere" sometimes misfires. Spaniards laughed the peasant-garbed waiters at Madrid's Castellana Hilton right back into tie and tails, and Hilton had to change the name of the Opium Den bar in his Hong Kong hotel after the Chinese took offense (it is now simply The Den). The popular BBC television satire show, That Was the Week That Was, opened fire at Hilton with a mock Bible lesson: "Brethren, in the beginning there was darkness upon the face of the earth and there was no iced water. Then Hilton said: "Let the earth bring forth Hiltons yielding fruit after their kind. And it came to pass that Hiltons covered the face of the earth and there was a great flood of iced water, and the darkness was greater than it was in the beginning."
Rigid Watch. Along with iced water, Hilton has introduced some handsome profits to the natives. Puerto Rico, for example, has racked in $18 million from its share of the Caribe Hilton. The usual Hilton arrangement is for local capital—either private or government—to supply the land, the building and the furnishings; Hilton puts up the operating capital and runs the hotel. Two-thirds of the gross operating profit goes to the hotel's owners, one third to Hilton. This method enables Hilton to extend his chain rapidly without putting himself deeply into debt. He gives his local managers autonomy to adjust to local conditions and to set rates (which vary from $14 a night in London for a single to $5.75 in Berlin). The proof of the system's success is that every one of the Hilton hotels abroad that has gone through its initial shakedown period is earning money.
The very spread of the chain helps to pull in the guests; Hilton operates a globe-circling reservation system of 126 sales offices, which produce 25% of his room business. Each hotel keeps a rigid watch on costs and sends daily reports to Hilton headquarters, which knows within 24 hours whether a banquet in Cairo or Hong Kong made money. To tighten costs, two teams of executives surveyed 15 Hilton hotels in the U.S. last year, came up with findings that will save the chain nearly $2 million. All this has helped to bring the Hilton chain's labor bill down to 40% of its revenue, v. 45% for most transient hotels.
Cheaper Bourbon. The secret of good innkeeping is to save money without letting the guests realize that any scrimping is going on—and Hilton is a past master at the art. Hilton has found that grass-cloth wall covering eliminates repainting and keeps looking new after years of service, now imports large quantities of it from Hong Kong for his hotels. The wall-to-wall plush carpets on the floors of Hilton hotels actually save money because they make it unnecessary to finish the floor underneath, and the use of Urethane instead of foam rubber in mattresses is cheaper and the sleeping just as good.