Hilton Hotels’ interest in space started way back in 1959 when Barron Hilton, son of the founder and an aviation enthusiast who could fly everything from planes to hot air balloons, mooted the idea of opening a lunar hotel. Hilton’s initial idea was the Orbiter Hilton, a space lab with 14 levels, designed to accommodate 24 people. It was intended for short trips into space, for stopovers on the way to the moon or another planet.
Swap a sea view for a space view
Hilton went as far as printing out promotional reservation cards for customers to reserve a hotel room on the moon and mocked up what it thought would be the room key of the future during their press launch. “They came up with a sleek-looking key, but what we’ve actually been using as hotel keys for the last 25 years or so – the key card – was really beyond their comprehension,” says Dr Mark Young, who oversees the Conrad Hilton archive at the University of Houston.
In 1968, a year before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, when space interest was at fever pitch, this idea of a lunar hotel was brought to life on-screen in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The movie included a scene in the lounge area of an imagined Hilton space hotel, not dissimilar to Barron Hilton’s description.
A dream deferred
Barron Hilton’s vision of a deep affinity between Hilton Hotels and space travel continued when in 2019, Doubletree by Hilton’s iconic chocolate chip cookie became the first food baked in space. Working in partnership with Zero G Kitchen, which created a prototype oven, and NanoRacks, a provider of commercial access to space, Hilton made history and became the first hospitality company to participate in research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Three cookies returned to Earth in 2020, where they were extensively tested by food scientists and one is currently exhibited in an air-tight exhibition display at the Smithsonian Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
While a lunar hotel hasn’t yet been built, we might not have to wait as long as we think to have a space-age stay. Hilton has recently teamed up with Voyager Space, a leader in space exploration, to be the official hotel partner of Starlab, a commercial space station which is set to replace the ISS. Starlab astronauts will live in intergalactic comfort thanks to Hilton-designed communal areas, hospitality suites and sleep quarters.
Back on Earth
For those of us who have not yet booked a stay in space, select Hilton hotels in the UK this summer can transport you to a new galaxy from the comfort of a hotel room. Thanks to the space-themed Make and Take LEGO play tables, children (and adults) can build a LEGO creation that’s out-of-this-world and then take it home afterwards. Available at select Hilton Hotels which offer kid-focused activities and facilities as part of the Family Experiences programme. Alongside LEGO bricks to fire up children’s imaginations, families staying at one of the below Family Experience hotels can also enjoy connected rooms to give kids independence and parents peace of mind, family-friendly restaurants with children’s menus, staff and concierges who understand the specific demands families on holiday have, and much more.
Find out more about a stay at one of Hilton’s earth-based hotels
