Hilton and Jet2holidays

 

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

 

This blog aims to conduct a comparative analysis between Hilton Hotels and Jet2 Holidays, focusing on their stakeholders and strategic management. The comparative analysis will highlight the importance of stakeholder management and strategic management in organisational progress for both organisations.

The hospitality sector provides comprehensive services that include accommodation, food, and beverages. The sector includes an extensive range of industries such as hotels, restaurants, travel operations, and event management. The UK-based hospitality sector had a contribution of £93 billion to the country’s economy in 2022 (UKHospitality, 2023). Statistics suggest that the hospitality sector has employed nearly 2.8 million people in 2023 (UK Hospitality, 2021). The majority of the employees in this sector include young migrants, part-timers, and minority workers. I think this variation among the workers makes the hospitality sector the most diversified among others in this country. I have also seen that there are certain challenges visible in this sector that including a lack of regulations in the payment practices and uncertainty of jobs.

The tourism products are primarily introduced to fulfil the leisure and entertainment needs of the tourists and travellers. The products of the tourism sector mainly ensure comfort and fulfilment of any individual requirements of tourists (Holloway and Humphreys, 2022). The tourism industry is primarily based on service-oriented practices, which makes service standards the main breadwinner for the businesses. Hilton Hotels primarily focuses on the accommodation industry. The products of Hilton include an extended range of hotels, accommodations, restaurants, and staycation services. Jet2holidays provides comprehensive packages of travel, accommodation, and entertainment to its customers.

This report is going to compare and contrast the two companies regarding their stakeholder management and strategic focus to ensure their market positions remain consistent in the tourism industry.

CHAPTER 2: COMPARATIVE ORGANISATIONAL AND STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

 

2.1 Organisational overview with history and market positions

Hilton Hotels

Figure 1: Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels

(Source: Stories from Hilton, 2025)

Hilton Hotel started its journey in 1925 by Conrad Hilton with the first hotel in Texas. The only mission of the founder at that time was to “operate the best hotel” (Stories from Hilton, 2025). Soon, the hotel started its expansion and became the first coast-to-coast hotel chain in the USA. The Roosevelt Hilton Hotel became “the first ever hotel in the world with installed television in its rooms.” This made Hilton Hotels a global phenomenon in providing innovative leisure experiences to its consumers. The first ever Hilton Hotel in the UK was launched in 1963, it was named as London Hilton and located at Park Lane (Godfrey, 2023). Hilton Hotels remains one of the most recognised brands in the global hospitality sector, with its leading variants in accommodations. The company focuses on sustainability and the preservation of the environment with tactical improvement in the service standards, which makes the brand class apart from the majority of the global brands in the hospitality sector.

Figure 2: Highlights of Fourth Quarter, Hilton Hotels 2024

(Source: Stories from Hilton, 2025)

The latest annual report of Hilton states that the company had a net income of 505 million USD in Q4 of 2024. They have expanded with 22,600 new rooms in this quarter, which makes 98,400 rooms for the year (Stories from Hilton, 2025). The global market scenario of Hilton Hotels makes the brand one of the major entities of the hospitality sector. Hilton Hotel is the largest in the markets of American market with significant market shares in the Asia Pacific regions, Europe and the Middle East. Marriott International, Caesars Entertainment, and MGM Resorts are some of the biggest competitors of Hilton in the global market (Statista, 2025). The Hilton Hotels have become the most popular choices among premium customers, global travellers, and business travellers. The company continues to improve the strategic viewpoint of hospitality services with innovations.

 

Jet2holidays

Figure 3: Jet2holidays Logo

(Source: Jet2plc.com, 2024)

Jet2holidays is a part of the initiative called Jet2.com that started its journey in 2007 as the third wing of Dart Group Plc (Jet2plc.com, 2024). The company’s motto was to offer “package holidays that customers can trust.” This ground-breaking initiative made terms such as “customisation” and “personalisation” relevant in the scenario of tourism product development. Jet2holidays rapidly grew in this domestic market and quickly placed its mark on different locations of the UK, such as Greater Manchester and the East Midlands. By the end of 2012, passenger numbers of Jet2holidays increased by 500%. Currently, Jet2holidays provide value-based packages across Europe with a network of over 13 UK airports (Jet2holidays.com, 2025). AOTL approval rate of Jet2holidays makes the company one of the major choices of UK-based consumers in terms of package holidays.

The market share of Jet2holidays experienced a steep decline after the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the company was able to recover quickly and restore a substantial amount of market share. As per CAPA analysis, Jet2 Plc was responsible for 11% of flights in the UK in 2023 (CAPA, 2023). A Statista report indicates that Jet2holidays has accumulated 20% market share in the UK-based packaged holiday market, which is the highest (Statista, 2024). Jet2holidays remains the top choice of customers who require customised and comprehensive services with the best value. The continuous improvement in personalisation and variation in offering makes Jet2holidays the first choice for consumers in the UK.

 

2.2 Stakeholder Analysis

Identification of Stakeholders and Expectations

Hilton Hotels	Jet2Holidays
Customers The customers are the primary entities in the business of Hilton Hotels. An extended range of services to the customers brings the major share of business and profit for the organisation, which makes this entity as a primary stakeholder of its operations.	Customers The consumers are part of stakeholder management due to their direct link with revenue generation in the business by acquiring the goods and services (Camilleri, 2018, p.15). Customers are the centre of attention of the Jet2holidays business as their behaviour, preferences and demand about the holiday packages influence the product development of the company.
Employees (Team Members) The team members and employees of Hilton provide actionable feedback, which is vital in the strategic development of the company (Hilton Leadership, 2024). These stakeholder groups include Hilton’s worldwide staff and professionals in different categories of functions, such as hotel management and corporate practices.	Suppliers (Associate businesses) The suppliers are the associated businesses that collaborate with Jet2holidays to successfully implement the services of complete holiday packages. This group includes the local accommodation providers, transport facilities, food and beverage suppliers.
Shareholders The shareholders hold significant value in the decision-making and any kind of modifications to the core business process. The Hilton company consists of 24 world-class brands across its global operations (Hilton.com, 2025). The business model of Hilton is fee-based, highly resilient and capital efficient. This allows the shareholders of Hilton to be deeply rooted in the progress of the brand and its functions.	Shareholders Jet2holiday is a part of Jet2 plc and its wings of operations. This makes Jet2.com a principal shareholder of the key operations that Jet2holidays executes. As per the latest reports, the lead shareholding organisation of the company is Phillip Meeson with 14.41% ownership of the total issued stake of the company (Jet2plc.com, 2025).

 

Contribution and Influence of each group

Customers

The customers are equally influential in both Hilton and Jet2holidays operations and strategic management. According to Fletcher et al. (2018), the customers have high value amidst the tourism business, as they are the leading consumers of the products and services. This makes the variety of services of Hilton and Jet2holidays dependent on the customers. The consumers of Hilton contribute to the enhancement of technological improvement and influence the service standards across the hotels owned by the company. The customers of Jet2holidays establish the market standards with their preferences for services in the package holidays.

Employees

The employees of Hilton Hotel hold significant value in the process of maintaining the service standards according to the expectations of their customer groups. Hilton Hotels focuses on providing training and infrastructure to ensure that the workers get the right environment to contribute and develop at the same time. This makes Hilton Hotels a highly reputable employer that makes it an attractive prospect for the global workforce of the hospitality sector. The contribution of the employees in making the strategic development at Jet2holidays is also significant, as their products require regular updates and modifications as per the dynamic needs of the consumers.

Shareholders

The shareholders are the internal stakeholders of both the company that contributes and influences management decisions at the same time. The shareholders may not hold significance in the daily operations of the business, but they can contribute to the management decisions (Page and Connell, 2020). This makes the associate brands of Hilton and the leading shareholders of Jet2holidays equally important to include in board meetings and strategic decisions. For instance, the brand association of Hilton is based on a better reputation and enhancement of service standards. On the other hand, brand associations of Jet2holidays are mostly applicable to increase the value provided to the customers.

 

Suppliers

The suppliers of Jet2holidays hold more significance due to their business practices. The suppliers are the providers of accommodations, transport facilities, and key services included in the package deals provided by Jet2holidays. Therefore, those suppliers play vital roles in ensuring better customer service and profitability of the organisation.

CHAPTER 3: STRATEGIC COMPARISON – CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

 

3.1 Tourism Product Development

 

Brand	Key Products (Range and Features)	Services (Customer Engagement)
Hilton Hotels	The main products offered by Hilton hotels include a range of hotels from multiple brands, and loyalty programs. Luxury Hotels: Hilton Hotels provides a luxury experience to its consumers with brands such as Waldorf Astoria, LXR and Conrad. Comprehensive products: A complete package of hospitality arrangements, starting from transportation to entertainment. Curated Collections: These are customised products offered to a niche market of Hilton with exclusive benefits to the loyalty program holders and premium customers. They include Curio Collection and Tapestry Collections.	Onsite Amenities Hilton Hotels provide an exclusive range of services in the form of amenities that make the customer experience better and thorough. The key amenities of the hotel include interconnected rooms, fitness, complete network coverage and free transport facilities (Hilton.com, 2025). Hilton provides focused services to its customers under loyalty programs. These services include Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton and Spark.
Jet2holidays	Comprehensive Holiday Package The primary product of Jet2holidays is the comprehensive holiday package that offers transportation, accommodation, food and activities in one single allotment to the customers. The booking of packages only required a £60pp with a flexible payment plan in payments (Jet2holidays.com, 2025). Customised options Jet2holidays also provides customised products tailormade to the customers according to their specific needs. The products include the services specific according to customer’s preferences of brands and equipment.	Accommodation The packages provided by Jet2holidays include accommodation services. These are customisable according to the customer’s choice. Transfer Jet2holidays provides free return flight options to selected packages. Their transport services include pick-up and drop-off services from the hotel and sightseeing. Baggage allowance Jet2holidays provides a free baggage allowance for each passenger availing its services up to 22 Kgs. ATOL Protection A comprehensive ATOL protection is availed to all customers of Jet2holidays for additional security.

 

 

Value Proposition

Figure 5: Value Proposition canvas of Hilton Hotels

(Source: Self-created, 2025)

The above figure provides a comprehensive outlook on the values created by Hilton Hotels as a hospitality service provider. As per my understanding, the Hotel’s main services are situated in the accommodation services. Additionally, Hilton Hotel provides leisure facilities, food and entertainment services. Based on its history and current specifications, I believe that Hilton wants to develop a differentiated arrangement to operate in the hospitality industry. The major challenge of premium services in the hospitality industry is its accessibility and consistency in services (Hudson and Hudson, 2025). I think Hilton Hotels has established its difference in this aspect through expansion and brand associations over the years. Hilton, with its technological innovation and modern practices, have provided relief to the pain points of the customers, such as a lack of virtual services and technology in hotel services. I found that the luxury options provided by Hilton have complete smart communication solutions that provide real-time solutions to the diversified demands of the customers. On the other hand, Jet2holidays value proposition is more inclined towards providing the best value against the expenditures made by the customers. I think this is the unique selling point of Jet2holidays, which officially made them top of the pile in terms of holiday package providers in the UK.

Figure 6: Value proposition canvas of Jet2holidays

(Source: Self-created, 2025)

 

Innovation and Service Quality

In terms of innovation and service standards, I believe that Hilton Hotels holds a better position between these two brands. Technologies such as smart home solutions, artificial intelligence, AR and VR are already visible in the majority of the hotels under the Hilton brand. On the other hand, the services and business model of Jet2holidays limit the scope of applying such technologies.

 

3.2 Strategic Challenges and Organisational Responses

Major challenges faced by the organisations

COVID-19 pandemic

The pandemic has caused the most significant disruptions in the hospitality and tourism businesses across the globe. The extended period of travel restrictions in both domestic and international networks had equivalent impacts on both Hilton Hotels and Jet2holidays. Jet2 Plc, which incorporates Jet2holidays operations, faced a loss of up to 385 million GBP during the global pandemic crisis (Travel Weekly, 2025). This was the impact after a year of significant growth by the brand, with more numbers of expansions in motion. As per Reuters report, Hilton had to cut out its expenses by 54% during the pandemic and still missed its profit expectations during the pandemic (Reuters, 2021). I think both companies had significant crises during this period that required specific attention to revert into a normal situation.

Cost pressure and service consistency

The dynamic nature of the tourism and hospitality industry is largely influenced by the ever-changing preferences of the customers. The increased shortage of labour and operational costs has produced challenges in maintaining consistency in services as well as the prices of the products. I observed that the prices of Jet2holidays packages have increased gradually. The company has highlighted the increased cost of raw materials, such as fuel expenses and lack of supply to be the main causes.

Challenges in the sustainable implementation of exciting business

The increased demand for sustainable actions has forced the hospitality organisations to increase their attention towards the development of social, economic, and environmental scales. Such conditions have produced increased costs irrespective of their long-term implications. Sustainability demands have also produced the demand for diversification and differentiation in both Hilton and Jet2holidays operations.

Methods applied by the organisations to mitigate the issues

Actions by Hilton

Figure 4: Comprehensive service standards of Hilton in TWP

(Source: Travel with Purpose | Hilton TWP, 2025)

Evolving Hotel Design

The design patterns of hotels under the Hilton brand have changed significantly since the pandemic, and the company is more focused on delivering social interactions and environmental stability (Stories from Hilton, 2021). Usage of recycled raw materials and renewable energy has become a consistent effort by Hilton Hotels. The company has focused on eliminating the use of fossil fuels and unconventional methods of services that produce a larger carbon footprint. The net-zero emission goal of Hilton Hotel is known as “Travel with Purpose.” The company wants to achieve zero carbon emissions by the end of this decade and focuses on delivering technology-based solutions to the conventional arrangement of hotel services.

Contactless operations, virtual engagement, and optimised supply chain management

Apart from the evolution of hotel design and service approaches, I found that the Hilton Hotel has focused on changing the trends of traditional hospitality services. The change is visible in both external and internal aspects of the hotel operations. For example, the company has collaborated with technology companies in the implementation of a cloud system in the supply chain management to ensure better inventory management and optimised usage of resources. The practices of contactless operations from the global pandemic situation have been carried forward, and this has now become a mainstream practice inside Hilton Hotels.

Actions by Jet2holidays

Investment in fuel-efficient aircraft

The transformation of Jet2holidays has taken place in the form of large-scale investment and collaborations. The company intends to bring consistency through establishing the contemporary methods of service into new natural practices. The goal of the organisation is to reduce Jet2 groups fuel consumption by 8% by the end of 2035 (Walker, 2024). I feel that this change is not significant if I compare it with the changes implemented by Hilton Hotels. I feel that Hilton Hotel has included more aspects of the business that include consumers, supply chain, alongside the operations. However, Jet2 Group’s initiatives for sustainable actions are limited to its commercial operations.

 

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 

Conclusion

The comparative analysis produced in this blog showcases the difference in attitudes in similar trends as per the necessity of two organisations that belong to the same sector. I believe that irrespective of the similar sector, Hilton and Jet2holidays have distinct features, which made the comparison easy in this journey. However, if I consider the challenges faced by these two companies, then the outcome is quite similar. The strategic methods of stakeholder management and utilisation of opportunities in Hilton are driven by innovation and technologies, as per the historical evidence. On the other hand, Jet2holidays have a more impactful and “similar to trend” kind of routine in those areas.

Key Recommendations

As per my understanding, the area of development is more for Jet2holidays rather than Hilton Hotels. I believe that Hilton has already achieved some of the unique prospects in the accommodation industry, which makes the brand globally recognisable. On the other hand, Jet2holidays has a limited area of functionality, which makes me more confident that the company can make itself valuable and ready for long-term progress at the same time. The core objective for Jet2holidays should be the acceleration of the sustainability goals. The company could find refinement in these existing practices and begin a more extensive area of transformation with association with its business partners. This could be the key to sustaining global competitiveness for Jet2holidays in the next few decades.

REFERENCES

Camilleri, M.A., (2018) The tourism industry: An overview. Travel marketing, tourism economics and the airline product: An introduction to theory and practice, pp.3-27. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-49849-2_1

CAPA (2023) Jet2.com’s success spotlights tour operator/airline ties in UK leisure market. [online] CAPA - Centre for Aviation. Available at: https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/reports/jet2coms-success-spotlights-tour-operatorairline-ties-in-uk-leisure-market-638453 [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D. and Wanhill, S., (2018) Tourism: Principles and practice. Pearson UK.

Godfrey, K. (2023) Inside the first Hilton hotel in the UK – with the ‘best city views and guests including Princess Diana &... [online] The Sun. Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/24396691/hilton-hotel-first-uk-city-princess-diana-beatles/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Hilton Leadership. (2024) Stakeholder engagement Creating a better world to travel begins with engagement, Stakeholder Engagement. https://travelwithpurpose.hilton.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/05/Stakeholder-Engagement.pdf.

Hilton.com. (2025) Hilton’s Amenities and Services - Hilton Help Centre. [online] Available at: https://www.hilton.com/en/help-center/hotel-information/hiltons-amenities-and-services/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Hilton.com. (2025) Investor Relations. [online] Available at: https://ir.hilton.com/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Holloway, J.C. and Humphreys, C., (2022) The business of tourism. 12th edn. London: Sage.

Hudson, S. and Hudson, L., (2025) Customer service for hospitality and tourism.

Jet2holidays.com. (2025) About Us | Our Brands & Products | Jet2holidays. [online] Available at: https://www.jet2holidays.com/about-us [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Jet2holidays.com. (2025) Package Holidays You Can Trust | Jet2holidays. [online] Available at: https://www.jet2holidays.com/#:~:text=Here%20at%20Jet2holidays%2C%20we're,happy%20customers%20away%20each%20year! [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Jet2plc.com. (2024) Our history. [online] Available at: https://www.jet2plc.com/en/jet2-group-history [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Jet2plc.com. (2025) Shares. [online] Available at: https://www.jet2plc.com/en/shares [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Page, S.J. and Connell, J. (2020) Tourism: A Modern Synthesis. 5th edn. Oxon: Routledge

Reuters. (2021) Hilton earnings disappoint as pandemic pains linger, shares fall. [online] Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/business/hilton-posts-quarterly-loss-pandemic-hit-2021-05-05/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Statista. (2024) UK: market share of companies offering package holidays| Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1256773/brand-market-share-in-the-package-holiday-market-in-the-united-kingdom [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Statista. (2025) Topic: Hilton. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/topics/1880/hilton-worldwide/#topicOverview [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Stories From Hilton. (2021) Hilton: Many Pandemic Safety Innovations to Remain. [online] Available at: https://stories.hilton.com/corporate-news/hilton-many-pandemic-safety-innovations-to-remain [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Stories From Hilton. (2025) Hilton Reports Fourth Quarter and Record Full Year Results | Stories From Hilton. [online] Available at: https://stories.hilton.com/releases/hilton-reports-2024-fourth-quarter-full-year-results [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Stories From Hilton. (2025) The Story of Hilton | Stories from Hilton. [online] Available at: https://stories.hilton.com/history [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Travel Weekly. (2025) Jet2 hit by Covid losses of up to £385m. [online] Available at: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/jet2-hit-by-covid-losses-of-up-to-385m [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Travel With Purpose | Hilton TWP. (2025) Our Approach | Travel with Purpose | Hilton TWP. [online] Available at: https://travelwithpurpose.hilton.com/our-approach/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

UK Hospitality. (2021) Hospitality strategy: reopening, recovery, resilience. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hospitality-strategy-reopening-recovery-resilience/hospitality-strategy-reopening-recovery-resilience#:~:text=for%20Small%20Businesses-,Executive%20summary,for%20people%20to%20come%20together. [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

UKHospitality. (2023) Facts and stats - UKHospitality. [online] Available at: https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/media-centre/facts-and-stats/ [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Walker, G. (2024) Jet2.com and Jet2holidays publish updated sustainability strategy. [online] BUSINESSFIRST. Available at: https://www.businessfirstonline.co.uk/other-articles/jet2-com-and-jet2holidays-publish-updated-sustainability-strategy/#:~:text=The%20strategy%20details%20a%20number,in%20such%20technologies%20where%20appropriate. [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

Bibliography

Blogger (2025). Blogger.com - Create a unique and beautiful blog easily. [online] Blogger.com. Available at: https://www.blogger.com/about/?bpli=1 [Accessed 15 Jul. 2025].

‌