Web Site is King of the Road - Trip - for Summer Travelers: Hampton Offers Themed Travel Ideas Tailored to Most Preferences

Business Wire, July 1, 2004

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- As travelers consult their roadmaps, calculate the mileage to be driven, and double- or triple-check the compass directions, Hampton Hotels is showing travelers that getting there is half the fun. With 79 percent of all travelers--more than 808 million people--expected to hit the road this year, Hampton(R) is rescuing road-trippers from the inevitable stress of researching routes and helping them tap into hidden treasures.

The Hampton "Hidden Landmarks" Web site, located at www.hamptonlandmarks.com, discloses the exact locations of both obscure and infamous American moments in more than 10 themed trips. These commonly themed locations are designed to help travelers experience history and pop-culture phenomena first-hand.

The Hampton Web site maps out hard-to-find pop-culture landmarks across the country related to a variety of themes. Travelers can find road trip itineraries such as rock n' roll, romance, baseball, gangs of America and women in history--but these aren't your average sightseeing tours. These road trip ideas harbor some of the country's unknown, unconventional and most unbelievable secrets and legends, such as:

--U.S. Presidents: Travelers can cram 200 years of American history into one educational vacation as they visit everything from J.F.K.'s favorite Boston oyster bar to John Wilkes Booth's secret hideout, as well as presidential birthplaces and assassination locations.

--Baseball: Grab those peanuts and crackerjacks because this trip takes you everywhere from the original "Field of Dreams" to the site of the first recorded game in baseball history to the bed and breakfast owned by Babe Ruth's daughter.

--Famous Writers: Cure a case of writer's block by visiting the Massachusetts home where Herman Melville authored "Moby Dick"; step into literary history and stand on the bridge where the "shot heard around the world" was immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson; stop in at New York's Algonquin Hotel where writers such as Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley were regulars in the early 1900s.

Whether travelers want to plan a romantic rendezvous or swing their hips in Elvis' old haunts, Hidden Landmarks is sure to turbo-charge every road trip.

The one-of-a-kind Hidden Landmarks site and road trip section was developed in cooperation with Chris Epting, baseball fanatic and author of "Roadside Baseball" and "Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here, More Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks." Consumers can access the road trips by going directly to www.hamptonlandmarks.com or through the brand's homepage, www.hamptoninn.com, and clicking "Landmarks." The site will bring back a selection of landmarks by selected criteria - theme, region and/or state. It will also locate the nearest Hampton Inn hotel to the site, and allow a user to book a reservation immediately.

Hampton, which includes Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites hotels, is a mid-priced leader in the lodging segment. Hampton is part of Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE:HLT), which develops, owns, manages or franchises more than 2,100 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties. Its portfolio includes many of the world's best known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton(R), Conrad(R), Doubletree(R), Embassy Suites Hotels(R), Hampton Inn(R), Hampton Inn & Suites(R), Hilton Garden Inn(R), Hilton Grand Vacations Club(R) and Homewood Suites by Hilton(R).