Denizen Hotels is a former proposed brand within the Hilton Family of hotels. Hilton targeted the brand to mark the company's entry into the global lifestyle brand sector, and introduced it on March 10, 2009, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. However, due to legal action by a competitor, Denizen's development was halted and the brand was dropped. Hilton announced its

Canopy by Hilton Canopy by Hilton, or Canopy, is a hotel brand by Hilton, announced in October 2014 with the first property opening in Iceland in July 2016, and two in the United States in early 2018. Canopy is Hilton's twelfth brand; as of March 2018, approximat ...

lifestyle brand in October 2014.

Lawsuit

In April 2009,

Starwood Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. was one of the largest companies that owned, operated, franchised and managed hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties. It was acquired by Marriott International in 2016. ...

filed suit against Hilton and its Denizen brand, accusing two former Starwood executives including Ross Klein, the former president of Starwood Hotels of stealing and taking trade secrets to Hilton for the development of the new brand. Hilton suspended development of the Denizen brand and placed the team on paid administrative leave. On April 24, 2009, a US district judge enjoined Starwood and ordered Hilton to stop development of its brand pending further investigation of corporate espionage. In December 2010, Hilton Worldwide agreed to settle the lawsuit with

. Though full terms were confidential, part included a $75 million cash payment from Hilton and another $75 million in hotel-management contracts. In addition, Hilton was subjected to an injunction that prohibited the hotel chain from introducing any lifestyle hotels for two years. Two court-appointed monitors supervised Hilton’s operations to ensure it complied with the injunction.

References

{{hotel chains Defunct hotel chains Hilton Worldwide Defunct companies based in Virginia