If you run Hilton hotels and you've looked at a sales system other than Delphi, you've heard the sentence: Hilton mandates Delphi. It's true. Delphi.fdc is a Hilton brand standard, and the brand ties it to how Hilton leads are delivered and answered.
What that sentence doesn't cover is everything else a management company has to run. Your Hilton hotels probably sit in clusters next to Marriott, IHG and independent hotels. The same corporate account books across all of them. The GM, the revenue manager and the owner all want to see the pipeline. None of that is in a Hilton hotel's Delphi.
This piece is for owners and above-property sales leaders who keep hearing "Hilton mandates Delphi" and want to know what's still their call. It covers what Delphi does for the brand, which jobs have to stay in it, how the rest of the work can run in Matrix, how to approach a waiver, and what Matrix doesn't connect to.
What Delphi does for the brand
Delphi.fdc is the Amadeus sales and catering system, built on Salesforce, and Hilton connects it to its own systems. Two of those connections shape a typical hotel's day:
- Leads arrive in it. Hilton can push RFPs from its lead channels, such as MeetingBroker and Cvent, straight into Delphi.
- Group blocks flow out of it. Delphi connects to Hilton's property systems, so a block built in Delphi can be pushed into rates and inventory.
Those connections are real, and they're a large part of why the standard exists. Nothing here suggests working around them.
Matrix doesn't have them. It doesn't connect to Delphi or to Hilton's systems. Any plan that pairs the two has to start from that, so this one does.
What Delphi doesn't show a management company
A Hilton hotel's Delphi holds that hotel's Hilton business. That's what it's for. Three gaps follow from it, and they're the ones operators raise most often:
- The account is split by brand. A corporate account that books a Hampton, a Courtyard and the independent across the street shows up in Delphi only as its Hilton slice. Whoever owns the relationship has to rebuild the whole picture by hand.
- Access stays narrow. Delphi.fdc is licensed per user. In the portfolios we see, that usually means access stays with one person per hotel, while the GM, revenue and operations work from whatever gets emailed to them.
- Leadership sees reports, not the pipeline. Ownership and above-property leaders tend to get a spreadsheet rather than the live state of the business. It's out of date by the time it arrives, it covers only the Hilton hotels, and someone had to build it by hand.
None of this is a flaw in Delphi. It's a brand system doing a brand job. The management company's job is wider.
Option 1: keep Delphi for the brand, run the team on Matrix
This is the model we recommend first. The hotel keeps Delphi for the work the brand requires. The sales team's day-to-day work, and everyone else's view of it, runs in Matrix.
Which jobs stay in Delphi and which run in Matrix under Option 1.
| Stays in Delphi.fdc | Runs in Matrix |
|---|---|
| The Delphi access Hilton requires for the hotel | The pipeline for every hotel in the portfolio, Hilton and otherwise: leads, groups, LNRs and RFPs |
| Hilton leads as Hilton delivers them | Each account once, across every brand, with its full history |
| Responding to Hilton leads through the brand's channel | Follow-ups, activity and lead response time by seller and by hotel |
| Group blocks you want pushed into Hilton's rates and inventory | LNR production against contract, and renewals |
| Group pace and the Sales Readout for GMs, revenue and ownership |
How Hilton leads reach Matrix without retyping
Every hotel in Matrix has its own Lead Agent email address. In MeetingBroker, you set the Default Lead Coordinator to a distribution list that includes that address. Cvent leads for Hilton hotels route through MeetingBroker, so they're covered by the same setting.
The same lead that Hilton delivers to the hotel then also arrives in Matrix as a lead record. The original MeetingBroker link stays on the record, so the seller clicks through and responds in Hilton's channel, the way the brand expects. That's how Lead Agent works at every hotel, branded or not: it handles the data entry, and the response goes through the original platform. The setup is in Lead Agent and the MeetingBroker lead-catcher quickstart.
What you give up
Be clear about the cost before you choose this. Two jobs still touch Hilton's side:
- Responding to Hilton leads goes through the brand's channel. Matrix gets you there in one click, but it doesn't replace that channel.
- Group blocks you want pushed into Hilton's rates and inventory still get built in Delphi, because Matrix can't push them.
Everything else lives in Matrix: the working pipeline, the follow-ups, the account history, the production numbers and the reporting.
Why operators choose it anyway
The work a sales team does every day is prospecting, follow-up and account management. Group blocks and brand-channel responses are a small part of that. If the system the team lives in is easy to use, they actually use it, and the record stays complete. That's the trade. Even with Delphi's Hilton connections on the other side, a system the team uses every day can be worth more than one it opens only when it has to.
The case is strongest at select-service Hilton hotels without meeting space or catering. They sell corporate transient, negotiated accounts and room-only groups, which is exactly the work Matrix is built around. Matrix is priced per property with unlimited users, so the GM, the revenue manager and the owner all get a login without adding seats. Pricing is public.
Option 2: Hilton hotels stay on Delphi, the rest of the portfolio moves
Option 1 won't fit every hotel. Some lean on Delphi's Hilton connections for most of their business, and some teams won't run two systems at all. For those, split the portfolio by hotel instead. The Hilton hotels keep running on Delphi. Every other hotel, other brands and independents, runs on Matrix.
This is simpler, with a clear line and no shared workflow. The trade-off is visibility. The Hilton hotels' pipeline stays in Delphi, so the Matrix view of the portfolio covers everything except them, and a cross-brand account still needs its Hilton side added by hand.
It's also a path that can change later. If a Hilton hotel's situation changes, its Delphi history can move with it. Migration from Delphi is built, and we import accounts, contacts, leads, activities and opportunities from Delphi exports.
If you want to ask Hilton for a waiver
Waivers are a challenge to get from Hilton. Your best chances come from a convincing business case, and from pushing back as an ownership group.
Build the business case around how you run the portfolio, not around software features:
- Consistency. You run one system across the whole management portfolio, and that consistency is how you run the business.
- The brand's expectations. Explain how the hotel will still meet them: responding to Hilton leads promptly, and reporting negotiated and group production.
- Your track record. Point to the hotel's performance, how long you've operated it, and your relationship with the brand.
Make the request as ownership. A request that comes from the ownership group carries more weight than one from the hotel's sales office. Be ready to push back if the first answer is no. If you're putting a case together, we're glad to help with it.
Plan for either answer. Go in with Option 1 ready. If the waiver isn't granted, the hotel keeps Delphi for the brand and the team still works in Matrix, so a no costs you nothing you'd planned on.
What Matrix doesn't do
Plainly, so nothing here gets read as more than it is:
- No Delphi integration. Matrix doesn't sync with Delphi in either direction. Hilton leads reach Matrix by email through Lead Agent. Delphi history comes across by import when a hotel moves.
- No connection to Hilton's systems. Matrix doesn't receive leads from Hilton directly, and it doesn't push group blocks into rates and inventory.
- No PMS integration yet. That's on the roadmap. Today, production numbers are entered in Matrix month by month.
For the broader comparison, including where Delphi's event and catering depth fits, see Matrix vs Delphi. For how negotiated accounts are tracked once they're in Matrix, see hotel account production.
Frequently asked questions
Does Hilton require Delphi.fdc? Yes. Delphi.fdc is a Hilton brand standard, and Hilton ties it to how leads from its channels are delivered and answered. The exact requirement for a given hotel is set by the brand, so confirm it with your Hilton contact before you plan around it.
Can a Hilton hotel use a sales CRM other than Delphi? Alongside Delphi, yes. Replacing Delphi at a Hilton hotel takes a waiver from the brand. Running a second system next to it is how management companies with mixed-brand portfolios get one view of their business while the hotel keeps what Hilton requires.
Do sellers have to enter everything twice? No. Hilton leads reach Matrix through Lead Agent, so nobody retypes them, and the pipeline, account history, follow-ups and production numbers live in Matrix. Two jobs still touch Hilton's side: responding to Hilton leads through the brand's channel, and building any group block you want Delphi to push into Hilton's rates and inventory.
Is a Hilton Delphi waiver hard to get? Waivers are a challenge to get from Hilton. Your best chances come from a convincing business case and from pushing back as an ownership group rather than leaving the request to the hotel's sales office. Plan for either answer: a hotel that keeps Delphi can still run its sales team on Matrix.
Can we bring our Delphi history into Matrix? Yes. Migration from Delphi is built. When a hotel moves, we import its accounts, contacts, leads, activities and opportunities from Delphi exports, so the history comes with it.
Does Matrix integrate with Delphi? No. Matrix is a standalone system and doesn't sync with Delphi or connect to Hilton's systems. Hilton leads reach Matrix by email through Lead Agent, and Delphi history comes across by import when a hotel moves. Nothing flows back into Delphi.