COLUMBUS, Ohio (October 13, 2009) – The Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority has awarded Hilton Worldwide the rights to operate the new 500-room convention headquarters hotel in Columbus to be located on the west side of High Street directly adjacent to the SMG-managed Greater Columbus Convention Center and Nationwide Arena. The new hotel is a collaboration between the Franklin County Commissioners, Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, City of Columbus and Nationwide Realty Investors, Inc.

“After carefully analyzing all proposals on the table, we made the decision to go with Hilton Worldwide because the Hilton proposal was the best fit financially and programmatically for our project,” said Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority Executive Director Bill Jennison. “We are excited to have the Hilton flag flying over our new convention hotel and must thank Jeff Sachs of Strategic Advisory Group for their counsel and creative input in our decision process. With the additional room nights, we will now be able to compete for 92% of our target market in the industry.”

“Hilton Worldwide is proud to have been chosen to operate Columbus’ new convention headquarters hotel, said Ted Ratcliff, Senior Vice President Operations-Eastern North America for Hilton Worldwide. “Columbus is a great meeting destination and we look forward to enhancing the downtown hotel package for groups considering Columbus for their future meetings.

“With the addition of Hilton Worldwide, we are proud to be working with yet another world-class sales team to market and sell Columbus as a preferred convention, tradeshow and meeting destination,” said Paul Astleford, president and CEO of Experience Columbus. “The addition of this full-service convention hotel, combined with the Greater Columbus Convention Center, will allow us to compete for a larger share of our state, regional and national convention market.”

“By Choosing Hilton Worldwide, Columbus is able to offer multiple downtown-headquarter hotel opportunities to more than one convention or trade show at a time, as well as host larger national conventions and trade shows within the 1.7 million-square-foot Greater Columbus Convention Center,” said John Christie, chairman of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority. “This partnership significantly strengthens our product offering in the global market.”

The new full-service convention hotel is expected to break ground in the summer of 2010 and will open in fall 2012. The property is expected to have a large atrium in the lobby featuring skylights to give an indoor-outdoor feel with a combination brick and glass façade and include 54 suites and 30,650 square feet of banquet and meeting space. Total cost for the hotel project is estimated at $140 million.

Experience Columbus is the destination sales and marketing organization for the Greater Columbus community. Formerly the Greater Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau, Experience Columbus works with the Columbus community to create a competitive distinction in the visitor marketplace, attracting leisure visitors, conventions and meetings.

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