Does Hilton hire people with felonies?

What Hilton has said

Hilton hasn't published a policy or statement on hiring people with criminal records, and it isn't on the Second Chance Business Coalition member list. Its applicant privacy notice, which covers Hilton corporate jobs and hotels Hilton manages, says applicant information may be used to conduct background checks if you are offered a job and lists background check and criminal history among the information it may collect, without saying which jobs are checked. It says franchised hotels, where the owner or management company is the employer, handle applicants under their own practices. The only arrest and conviction wording we found in Hilton postings was in Los Angeles and San Francisco postings, tied to those cities' fair-chance ordinances.

• Local fair-chance notice

  Hilton postings in San Francisco (for example Bartender, Parc 55 San Francisco) quote the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and say qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered. This is a notice required by that city's law and appeared only on San Francisco postings.¹

• Local fair-chance notice

  Hilton postings in Los Angeles (for example Bellperson, Hilton Los Angeles Airport) say the employer will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring. We saw it only on Los Angeles postings.²

Does Hilton do background checks?

Hilton hasn't said publicly whether it runs background checks. Hilton's applicant privacy notice (updated May 2026) says personal information may be collected, used and disclosed for purposes that include conducting background checks if you are offered a job, and lists background check and criminal history among the information Hilton may collect. Because the notice uses 'may' and doesn't say which jobs are checked or what a check covers, it doesn't confirm that every applicant is checked. A California appendix, for California applicants only, says their information is used for background and related checks and drug tests. The notice covers Hilton corporate positions and positions at hotels Hilton manages; it says franchised hotels process applicant information under their own policies. It names no vendor or lookback period, and none of the roughly 590 U.S. postings we read mention a background check.³

• How long a background check takes

Does Hilton drug test?

Hilton hasn't published a drug testing policy. The California section of Hilton's applicant privacy notice lists drug tests among the purposes it uses applicant information for, but doesn't say which jobs, if any, require one. None of the roughly 590 U.S. postings we checked mentioned a drug test.³

Rules for specific jobs

• Jobs at franchised hotels

  Hilton's postings for franchised hotels say the hotel is owned and operated by an independent franchisee that controls recruiting, hiring and employment practices, and that you would be employed by the franchisee and not by Hilton. These postings carry 'Franchise' in the title. Hilton's applicant privacy notice doesn't cover them. We found no Hilton page on how franchisees screen applicants.⁴

• Jobs at hotels Hilton manages for an owner

  Hilton's applicant privacy notice says that at many managed hotels in some locations the hotel owner, not Hilton, is the employer and Hilton recruits and hires on the owner's behalf. The notice says applicants for positions at properties managed by Hilton are covered by it.³

Your rights, and how far back a check can go

• Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an employer must get your written permission before it gets a background report about you from a background screening company.^9,10,11
• Before an employer decides not to hire, keep, or promote you because of something in a background report, it must give you a copy of the report and a document called "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act."^9,10
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^9,12
• The FCRA's seven-year limit does not apply to criminal convictions, so under federal law a conviction can show up on a background report no matter how old it is.^13,14
• Under the FCRA, background and credit reports generally cannot include arrest records, civil lawsuits, or civil judgments that are more than seven years old (or older than the statute of limitations, if that is longer).^13,15

Your full background check rights

Before you apply

• You can ask a background screening company for the information it has on you, and the CFPB keeps a list of consumer reporting companies, including employment screening companies, with their contact details.^9,12,16
• According to the Clean Slate Initiative, 14 states and Washington, D.C. have passed Clean Slate laws that meet its criteria for automatically clearing eligible records: Pennsylvania, Utah, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, and Missouri, plus D.C.¹⁷
• The Federal Bonding Program, run by the U.S. Department of Labor, lets states give employers free fidelity bonds that protect them against losses from a newly hired worker's dishonest acts, for job seekers with past justice involvement or in recovery from substance use.^18,19

See whether you can clear your record in your state