• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Former U.S. Secret Service agent says bringing your authentic self to work stifles teamwork: 'You don’t get high performers, you get sloppiness'

2

Current price of oil as of June 22, 2026

3

Current price of silver as of Monday, June 22, 2026

1

Former U.S. Secret Service agent says bringing your authentic self to work stifles teamwork: 'You don’t get high performers, you get sloppiness'

2

Current price of oil as of June 22, 2026

3

Current price of silver as of Monday, June 22, 2026
LifestyleHilton

A Hilton benefits program employees used to hate now makes millions in revenue for the company

By
HR Brew
HR Brew
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
HR Brew
HR Brew
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 17, 2025, 8:03 PM ET
Using Go Hilton, employees and their friends and family members can stay at a Hilton property for steeply discounted rates.
Using Go Hilton, employees and their friends and family members can stay at a Hilton property for steeply discounted rates.Getty Images—Dimensions
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

There’s no better feeling for HR pros than seeing the success of a well-used and well-liked employee program. No better feeling, indeed, except when the program also benefits your company’s bottom line.

Recommended Video

That’s the case for Hilton’s employee travel program. The perk, called Go Hilton, is a worker favorite, and brings in millions of dollars in revenue each year.

Using Go Hilton, employees and their friends and family members can stay at a Hilton property for steeply discounted rates. Team member rates include up to 40 nights per year, and the majority of hotels are priced at tiered flat rates, ranging from $40 to $80 per night. Friends and family rates grant 70 nights annually at 50% off the best available rate.

“Travel is core to what we do,” Lora Lawler, Hilton’s VP of total rewards and HR technology, told HR Brew. “We have such a unique opportunity to use travel and our founding purpose to really engage our team members.”

The perk wasn’t always beloved, however. In fact, it was a source of major frustration before undergoing a revamp a decade ago.

Beloathed to beloved. The original team member travel program prompted consistent worker criticism in Hilton’s annual internal surveys.

“Year after year, this was the greatest dissatisfier that team members were talking about,” Rick Morrow, senior director of the Go Hilton program who led the program revamp, told HR Brew.

The biggest headache was the difficulty finding room availability. The system relied on hotel management to add unoccupied rooms to the platform—which often wouldn’t happen, according to Morrow. If employees managed to book a room, they’d need to provide written documentation stating which hotel they’re staying at and for how long, and sign off from their managers. Workers would forget the documentation, and get turned away by the hotel.

In 2016, Hilton introduced the Go Hilton program, complete with a new booking site and system for finding room availability. The process was made fully electronic, ditching the paper documentation.

To solve the lack of rooms problem, Morrow’s team centralized the process for adding availability to the platform. Working with Hilton’s commercial teams, it created an occupancy forecast model. Hilton’s reservation system contains historical data on what the occupancy was, and is, expected to be for each hotel. Using this data, the model calculates what rooms are most likely to go unsold during less busy periods that could be made available to employees at discounted rates.

Embracing evolution. The perk is not treated as a “set it and forget it” strategy. Lawler’s and Morrow’s teams have made changes to the program, primarily relying on employee feedback via an annual survey.

“We’re always looking at ways to improve the program. Even now, we haven’t reached perfection,” Lawler said.

For example, when they first introduced the program, the annual allotment for both the team member rates and friends and family rates were set at 30 nights each. Employees in early feedback said the friends and family rates were getting used up quickly, so Hilton expanded those rates to 70 nights per year and extended the team member allotment to 40 nights this year, following similar feedback.

Hilton also introduced a long-term tenure program, where team members who’ve been with Hilton for 10 years or more get lifetime friends and family rates, and after 20 years earn lifetime team members rates. That specific offering boosts employee retention.

“I don’t know how many times I can tell you, we’ve heard someone say… they’re thinking about maybe retiring or moving on, and they’re like, ‘No, no, I’m sticking around for another year or two because I want those team member rates for life,” Morrow said. “That’s how you keep good people.”

Win-win. Since its revamp, more than 35.8 million rooms have been booked via Go Hilton. The perk has also proven to be a success for Hilton’s bottom line. Since its reintroduction, Go Hilton has generated nearly $3 billion in revenue. Last year was its most successful, earning almost $550 million.

For other HR leaders who want to introduce successful talent programs that boost revenue, Lawler recommends they hone in on a product or offering that’s valuable to their team members.

“The key to Go Hilton is making it not just work for our team members and our employees, but also for our business,” Lawler said. “I have worked at other places, or potentially worked at other places, where [I’ve thought] well, they must have a discounted version of you name it, and then you find out they don’t, because it’s potentially cost prohibitive. So I would just encourage HR leaders to get creative and think about the interesting ways to do that.”

This report was written by Paige McGlauflin and was originally published by HR Brew.

About the Author
By HR Brew
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Lifestyle

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Lifestyle

Matt Freese stopping a soccer ball entering the goal
SuccessCareers
Team USA’s goalkeeper passed on Manchester United, the club that helped shape David Beckham’s career, for Harvard—and has zero regrets
By Preston ForeJune 23, 2026
3 hours ago
mex
North AmericaWorld Cup
After FIFA priced them out of their own World Cup, many Mexicans take their TVs to the street
By Megan Janetsky and The Associated PressJune 23, 2026
4 hours ago
wc
North AmericaWorld Cup
One World Cup, two worlds: Atlanta’s $3 pizza collides with Mexican beer that costs a day’s wages
By Tim Reynolds and The Associated PressJune 23, 2026
5 hours ago
gg
CommentaryWorld Cup
CPJ: press freedom must endure the American World Cup
By Gypsy Guillén KaiserJune 23, 2026
8 hours ago
toy
Arts & EntertainmentBox office
A $1 million horror film and a 30-year-old franchise are saving Hollywood’s summer
By Jake Coyle and The Associated PressJune 22, 2026
21 hours ago
heat
Environmentclimate change
Planet’s heat bill comes due as one billion more people face extreme heat stress than in the 1970s
By Alexa St. John and The Associated PressJune 22, 2026
21 hours ago

Most Popular

Former U.S. Secret Service agent says bringing your authentic self to work stifles teamwork: 'You don’t get high performers, you get sloppiness'
Success
Former U.S. Secret Service agent says bringing your authentic self to work stifles teamwork: 'You don’t get high performers, you get sloppiness'
By Sydney LakeJune 21, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of June 22, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of June 22, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 22, 2026
1 day ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, June 22, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, June 22, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJune 22, 2026
1 day ago
Markets tumble worldwide as Fed resets expectations: $400 billion wiped off SpaceX stock
Banking
Markets tumble worldwide as Fed resets expectations: $400 billion wiped off SpaceX stock
By Jim EdwardsJune 23, 2026
8 hours ago
The Fed is fed up with inflation and will bring down the hammer with a series of rate hikes this year, reversing earlier cuts, BofA says
Economy
The Fed is fed up with inflation and will bring down the hammer with a series of rate hikes this year, reversing earlier cuts, BofA says
By Jason MaJune 22, 2026
1 day ago
By 7 a.m., Bank of America’s CEO has already read 5 newspapers, his email inbox, and hit the gym—he says if you’re late to meetings, you’re ‘selfish’
Success
By 7 a.m., Bank of America’s CEO has already read 5 newspapers, his email inbox, and hit the gym—he says if you’re late to meetings, you’re ‘selfish’
By Preston ForeJune 22, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.