Hotels as Civic Landmarks, Hotels as Assets The Case of.pdfVIP

Hotels as Civic Landmarks, Hotels as Assets: the Case of Sydney’s Hilton Kim McNamara and Donald McNeill Urban Research Centre, University of Western Sydney Abstract: In this paper, we suggest that hotels play a very important part in the urban economies of central business districts. To illustrate this, we explore the biography of the Sydney Hilton, opened in 1974 and recently totally refurbished and re-opened. We argue that hotels can be understood as civic landmarks, where localized business elites and the local state coalesce to ensure their successful construction, where commercial activity is understood within an ideology of civic pride. Within this context, however, the design and appearance of hotels is driven by both their use value and exchange value. We trace a biography of the Sydney Hilton through three phases of its operation, considering its place within the backdrop of the reconstitution of Sydney’s CBD, and the broader urban economy. We conclude that the refurbishment of the Hilton can thus only be understood by considering wider issues of corporate brand, asset ownership and the requirements of the local state. Introduction The dominant landmarks in Sydney in 1950, and even in 1960, included the Macquarie Light House, the water towers of Vaucluse and Bankstown, the power stations at Bunnerong, Pyrmont and Balmain, the Central Station clock tower, the AWA tower and the Harbour Bridge…With the exception of the brid