Embassy Suites by Hilton

• 1. Introduction

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  Embassy Suites by Hilton started with a simple bet: that travelers wanted more than one room. When Hervey Feldman and Holiday Inn Corporation's CEO Mike Rose founded the chain in 1983, they were wagering that a separate living area and sleeping area would change what guests expected from a hotel stay. The first property opened in 1984 in Overland Park, Kansas, and the concept took hold fast enough that just six years after founding, Fortune magazine named Embassy Suites one of its "Best Companies for Customer Service." What followed was a decades-long arc spanning corporate mergers, a cartoon cat as brand ambassador, and a record-setting run of guest satisfaction awards. The questions worth asking are how an all-suite concept became a franchise empire, what made the model stick, and how a Garfield slogan gave way to a Roman Coppola-directed ad campaign.

• 2. Founding and Early Growth

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  Hervey Feldman held the title of president and CEO of Embassy Suites from the chain's founding through 1990, then served as executive chairman through 1992. His partnership with Mike Rose of Holiday Inn Corporation gave the brand both hospitality credibility and corporate infrastructure from the start. By 1986, only two years after the first Overland Park property opened, Embassy Suites was already building at scale. That year the chain put up two hotels in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, one at a cost of $28 million and the other at $38 million, signaling real capital commitment to a still-young concept.

  The chain's parent structure shifted in 1990, when The Promus Companies Incorporated took over as the parent company of Embassy Suites. Two years later, in 1992, the brand crossed into international territory with its first property outside the United States, opening in Toronto. That Toronto hotel marked a meaningful step: what had been a domestic all-suite experiment was now pitching itself to travelers in other countries.

• 3. Joining the Hilton Family

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  In 1999, Embassy Suites Hotels entered the Hilton portfolio through the merger of Hilton Hotels Corp. and Promus Hotel Corp. The timing coincided with a significant moment of recognition for the brand. That same year, the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration named Embassy Suites a "Best Practice Corporate Champion in Quality," and J.D. Power and Associates awarded the chain its "Highest Guest Satisfaction among All-Suite Hotel Chains" honor.

  The anniversary milestone arrived in 2009, when Embassy Suites marked its 25th year with the opening of Embassy Suites Minneapolis - Brooklyn Center. That year also brought a seventh consecutive win for "Highest Guest Satisfaction among Upscale Hotel Brands," which the brand described as a record-setting achievement. Five years later, in 2014, Embassy Suites Santo Domingo opened as the brand's first foothold in the Dominican Republic. The following year, 2015, the chain formally rebranded to its current name: Embassy Suites by Hilton.

• 4. The All-Suite Concept

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  Every guest room in an Embassy Suites property is built around the same promise: a separate living area alongside a sleeping area. That division is the defining feature that sets the brand apart from standard hotel rooms, and it has remained consistent across the chain's decades of operation. Most Embassy Suites hotels carry an atrium-style layout with glass elevators, though some properties do not include this feature.

  Two complimentary amenities are woven into the Embassy Suites experience. An Evening Reception offering drinks and light snacks is available to all guests each night. Mornings bring a complimentary breakfast with made-to-order omelets alongside hot and cold options. As of the most recent figures in the source, the chain spans 257 locations across five countries and territories, with a total of 59,712 rooms. Of those, 212 hotels and 47,930 rooms are independently owned and operated by franchisees, while 45 locations with 11,782 rooms are managed properties.

• 5. Marketing Through the Decades

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  Through the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Embassy Suites ran commercials built around Garfield, the comic strip cat, paired with the slogan "You don't have to be a fat cat to enjoy the suite life." The joke was clear: suite-level comfort was now accessible. By the early 2000s, the brand shifted to a different register, featuring a boy named Austin describing a family vacation at an Embassy Suites property.

  In early 2011, Embassy Suites announced three new 30-second commercials set to air in major markets beginning in March of that year. The spots introduced a character called Mr. More and were directed by Roman Coppola. Each commercial spotlighted one of three brand standards: True Two Room Suites, Cooked-to-Order Breakfast, and the Manager's Reception. The campaign's catchphrase asked, "What's better than getting more of more and less of less?"

• 6. In Film and Television

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  Season 9, episode 20 of The Office placed Embassy Suites in the dialogue when the character Nellie delivers a line directly referencing the hotel chain to Pam. The reference is brief but places the brand inside one of the most-watched American workplace comedies of its era.

  The 2017 Marvel film Spider-Man: Homecoming brought a specific Embassy Suites property onto screen. The Academic Decathlon scenes in that film were shot at the Hilton Atlanta Perimeter Center Embassy Suites. Earlier, in season 5, episode 4 of Miami Vice, a shootout scene was filmed inside the Miami Airport Embassy Suites location. That Miami shoot predates the Hilton merger by roughly a decade, capturing the brand in its Promus-era years while it was still building name recognition.