Skift Power Rankings: Christopher Nassetta

Christopher Nassetta, a Virginia native with a shock of salt-and-pepper hair, has the air of a senior industry statesman. Since taking the reins at Hilton Worldwide in 2007, Nassetta has orchestrated a dramatic turnaround in the hotel group’s fortunes while also advocating on behalf of the whole travel industry at the governmental level.

After becoming CEO, Nassetta decided he needed to fix the company’s broken culture. He moved Hilton’s headquarters from Beverly Hills to Virginia, retaining only some of the original executives. His retooling helped set the company up for a successful 2013 IPO, which raised $2.35 billion.

Since then, Nassetta has boosted Hilton’s global room count from about 480,000 to 1.16 million. The company has over 460,000 rooms planned, with 60% outside the U.S. In 2023, Hilton launched two affordable brands: LivSmart Suites and Spark by Hilton. This year, it acquired the luxury lifestyle brands NoMad and Graduate Hotels.

Hilton has 465,000 employees and in 2023, Fortune magazine and Great Places to Work named it “the world’s best workplace.”

Nassetta has used his stature in the travel sector to help advocate for its best interests, having previously chaired the World Travel & Tourism Council for four years. 

Today, he’s national chair of the U.S. Travel Association. Nassetta has used his access to help secure $50 million in additional funding for the State Department to reduce visa wait times. What’s the association’s next top priority? Seeking the government appointment of an assistant secretary for commerce of travel and tourism.

At the 2023 Skift Global Forum, Nassetta said: “Twenty years ago, [the travel sector was] like the Rodney Dangerfield of industries, ‘I get no respect.’ Today, it’s better. A lot of our effort in Washington and elsewhere is to make sure people understand the breadth and depth of the positive impact and power of travel and tourism.”

CEO Christopher Nassetta at Skift Global Forum