Waldorf Astoria Debut in Asia While Hilton and Starwood Go Legal

Asia's first upscale Waldorf Astoria Collection property from Hilton has debuted in the Maldives with 83 swimming pool villas and a hotel of facilities. The chains growth comes at a time as the US's 3rd largest lodging chain Starwood has filed a suit against Hilton claiming stolen documents and intellectual property theft by executives who had jumped ship to the later company.
Hilton was in the process of preparing to launch its design and lifestyle brand 'Denizen' when key management who had moved over from Starwood were alleged to have brought proprietary information about the W, St. Regis and Luxury Collection brands. Denizen has now been put on hold and Hilton is aiming to grow Waldorf as an uber brand above its Conrad and Hilton core properties.