The Hilton Million$ Team Pride Award is the highest accolade in the Hilton Pride Reward and Recognition Program. U.S. Hilton hotels were eligible in 1998 for this top honor, which was won by collectively achieving 100 percent in eight performance areas that measure customer service levels and financial efficiency. The goals for each property are established by the hotel's prior-year performance.

Every team member at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort will share equally in a pool of $1 million worth of Hilton Hotels Corp. stock -- limited to a designated cap of 27 shares per team member. Had more than one property achieved 100 percent of their goals, the pool of $1 million would have been shared between the collective total number of employees at all winning properties.

The Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort also received the Hilton Pride Reward for Best Overall Achievement (in the company's resort product line) for receiving the highest scoring average in the four areas of performance that monitor customer satisfaction.

"The Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort has created an environment that is dedicated to total guest satisfaction," said Bob Brooks, general manager of the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort. "Receiving these awards is truly an honor and testament to our dedication to providing a quality experience for our guests and team members alike." The Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, located four miles from the Tapatio Cliffs property, received the Hilton Pride Award for Continuous Improvement for achieving the most-improved scores over the previous years in the four performance areas measuring customer satisfaction.

Both resorts will receive an exclusively designed award from Tiffany Co. for display in the hotel lobby. "The goals were high, but we knew our properties were up to the challenge," said Dieter Huckestein, president - hotel division for Hilton Hotels. "The Hilton Pride Reward and Recognition Program raises the performance bar even higher for our hotels, and awarding the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort with the first Million$ Team Pride Award is one of the greatest honors a hotel can achieve."

"Providing the best possible guest service is the main priority for all Pointe People," said Sue Burke, last year's Hilton Hotels Team Member of the Year, who works in Tapatio Cliffs' property operations department. "We've worked very hard to achieve this, and these awards encourage us to work harder. But now that we're the best, we've raised the bar for ourselves. It's like being the defending Super Bowl champs -- we're expected to be in the playoffs next year."

The Hilton Pride Reward and Recognition Program began in 1996 and consists of four awards: the Million$ Team Pride Award, the Best Overall Performance Award, the Continuous Improvement Award (based on previous-year scores), and the Innovation Awards (given quarterly for the best value-creating ideas).

As part of the overall reward and recognition program, the Hilton Pride Awards for Customer Satisfaction recognize outstanding achievements and collaborative efforts by team members annually at Hilton properties. The Best Overall Performance Award and Continuous Improvement Award are presented annually to one property in each of four hotel product lines: Airport properties, Commercial properties, Resorts and Hilton Suites/Hilton Garden Inn(r) hotels. These awards are based solely on the four measured areas of performance that relate only to customer satisfaction.

The Hilton Million$ Team Pride Award recipient is determined by scores received in all eight areas of performance:

1. EBITDA -- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
2. Room RevPar -- Revenue per available room
3. Room Yield -- Revenue per available room vs. competitors in the local market
4. Brand Standards -- a Measurement based on compliance with corporate brand standards
5. Guest Comment Cards -- Scores received by evaluation cards completed by guests
6. Mystery Shopper -- Scores received on evaluation by anonymous guest
7. Customer Satisfaction Tracking Study -- Random telephone survey of recent guests
8. Team Member Survey -- Scores received on internal survey of staff relating to Hilton

The Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort is a total destination resort nestled at the base of the Squaw Peak mountain range in Phoenix. Opened in 1977, the resort now features 564 suites and is ranked among the "Top 25 Favorite Family Resorts in the Nation" by Better Homes Garden magazine.

The Spanish Mediterranean resort is home to three restaurants and Hole-in-the-Wall Ranch, which features eight acres of cascading waterfalls, secluded waterways, three swimming pools, a 130-foot water slide, a retail center, four tennis courts and the award-winning Coyote Camp children's program.

Hilton Hotels is recognized internationally as a pre-eminent hospitality company. The company develops, owns, manages or franchises hotels, resorts and vacation-ownership properties.