BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - June 12, 2002 -- Weighing in at a tasty two ounces and traveling in style, one of the most celebrated cookies in history has reached its final destination. The 100 Millionth Doubletree® Chocolate Chip Cookie arrived today with great fanfare at the Doubletree Hotel Minneapolis -- Park Place. 

At approximately 5:00 yesterday afternoon, Francis Raborn from Great Falls, Va. was personally presented with the Milestone Cookie upon check-in by Dave Horton, senior vice president -- brand management for Doubletree and participated in a special 21 Cookie Salute and Celebration. 

Raborn joined Doubletree employees to toast the arrival of the long awaited sweet treat by raising 21 glasses of milk along with 21 Doubletree cookies. To show appreciation to the Milestone Cookie recipient, Raborn was awarded with a commemorative Doubletree 100 Millionth Cookie Card that entitles him to Free Saturday Night Stays for One Entire Year at any Doubletree property in the United States and Latin America. 

"I've always looked forward to the cookie and the service I receive each time I stay at a Doubletree hotel. It was quite an honor to receive Doubletree's 100 Millionth Cookie today. 100 million is a lot of cookies and they really taste great," said a surprised Raborn. 

For the past six months, the path of the 100 Millionth Cookie has been watched closely by the Doubletree corporate team and the Christie Cookie Company, a bakery in Nashville, Tenn. where the legendary chocolate chip cookie has been made since 1995. Christie Cookie has been able to count each and every Doubletree cookie as it has been made and packed into batches and entered into the company's inventory tracking system to await final shipment. Cookies are ordered by each Doubletree hotel on an "as needed" basis, and then shipped accordingly. At each Doubletree hotel, the cookies are baked throughout the day and offered complimentary to hotel guests upon check-in at more than 150 Doubletree properties throughout the United States and Latin America. 

The 100 millionth cookie was recently identified and taken off the bakery conveyor belt at Christie Cookie Company, where it was then placed in a special, commemorative gold safe, waiting in frozen dough form, for final shipping instructions to the appropriate Doubletree property. When the call came with the date and name of the Milestone Cookie's final Doubletree destination, Horton immediately made plans to travel to Nashville, pick up the historic cookie from the bakery and personally deliver it the next day to the Doubletree Hotel Minneapolis -- Park Place. Once it arrived at the hotel, the cookie was freshly baked and personally presented to Raborn upon check-in -- and the celebration began! 

"When we received the call that the cookie was coming, we couldn't be more excited. All of our team members rallied together to make this a very special celebration for everyone," said Lee Engler, general manager of the Doubletree Hotel Minneapolis -- Park Place. 

Doubletree Hotels, Suites, Resorts and Clubs have built a reputation on their warm chocolate chip cookies, presented to each guest at check-in. 

Synonymous with Doubletree hospitality, the cookie has played an important role in differentiating Doubletree from other hotel brands and keeps leisure and business travelers coming back for more. 

In the 1980s, many Doubletree properties began the tradition of baking warm chocolate chip cookies solely for VIP guests. However, in 1995, Doubletree enlisted the services of Christie Cookie Company to hold the proprietary recipe to a consistent chocolate chip cookie that could be delivered and presented to every Doubletree guest at check-in. During the past seven years, Doubletree has developed a loyal following of chocolate chip cookie lovers and has delivered the same, delicious chocolate chip cookie to millions of hotel guests and customers. 

"More than 40,000 Doubletree team members have followed the progress of our Milestone Cookie for several weeks," said Horton.  "The Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookie is a symbol that embodies the warm welcome, genuine and caring service that people expect when they stay at Doubletree hotels. This is the `Year of the Doubletree Cookie,' and we look forward to continuing to celebrate our beloved cookie in future events throughout 2002." 

Doubletree Hotels, Resorts, Suites and Clubs are part of Hilton Hotels Corporation. Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company.