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Hilton's hotel rooms are growing larger (minimum: 11 ft. by 14 ft.) and hallways, which bring in no money, narrower. Most Hilton lobbies are kept purposely small and bars large so that loitering guests may kill time at a maximum profit to the management. Automation is used wherever possible. TV, in place of watchmen, guards exits from some Hilton hotels to prevent pilferage (objects in rooms are made purposely unwieldy for the same reason), and silverware is often cleaned ultrasonically. Behind the scenes at the New York Hilton a computer billing system hums quietly, eliminating paperwork by taking every charge directly from cash registers all over the hotel and adding them to each guest's bill.
In the dining rooms a battery of Hilton tasters has effected a saving with the discovery—so they say—that Manhattans are much better when made with the cheapest bourbon and that Icelandic lobster is better and cheaper than jumbo shrimp in many seafood dishes. Each of the five restaurants in the New York Hilton has a culinary theme—Spanish, French, Old New Orleans, etc.—but all the food is cooked in one mammoth kitchen. Hilton also saves money by purchasing its turkeys only once a year and freezing them, by having its French fries blanched with oil before they leave Idaho and by reducing the number of items on menus to just the most popular. Hilton serves 35,000 meals a day in its foreign hotels alone.
Only the Nice. To make such an enormously complicated, 24-hour a day business work, Hilton has surrounded himself with a team of crack operating people. In terms of authority, the No. 2 man in the Hilton chain is astute and ambitious Robert J. Caverly, 44, who watches over all operations. General Manager Curt Strand, 42, is the boss of the international division. Chicago Financier Henry Crown, who is worth $500 million himself and has interests in everything from General Dynamics to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, has been a close Hilton associate ever since he joined him in buying the Palmer House, is Hilton Hotel's second biggest stockholder, with 10%.
The big question in the Hilton chain is who will take Hilton's place once he-steps down. The betting is that it will not be any of his sons (all of whom are by his first marriage; he and Zsa Zsa have a daughter, Francesca, 16). His eldest son, Nickie, 37, has settled down after his playboy days as Elizabeth Taylor's first husband, is now a hard-working vice president in charge of Hilton Inns; but Nick, in the eyes of many, lacks the ambition and imagination to succeed his father. Barren Hilton, 35, —also a vice president—has his father's flair for deals, but the board blames him for losing money running the Carte Blanche credit card venture. Another son, Eric, has worked his way up through the ranks to become resident manager of Houston's Shamrock Hilton, but is only 30. Many are betting on fast-rising Bob Caverly, but there is also talk that Hilton might go outside the company to tap someone like able Howard Johnson the younger, who runs his father's coast-to-coast-franchise restaurant and motel business. Merger talks between the two companies, however, were broken off—at least for the time being—a fortnight ago.