What Hilton Hotel Corp. executives think of the latest Hilton venture is a matter of conjecture. What they will do if hotels planned by Nicole Olivia Hilton take off is a matter of even hotter speculation. What’s a company to do if the competition has the money and owns the name? By birth, no less?

Nicky Hilton is the younger sister of perpetual starlet Paris Hilton. The socialites are heirs to the Hilton fortune. Now that Paris is making yet another name for herself (she’s already built a solid reputation as a scenester and fashion plate) for the song, “Stars Are Blind,” it’s Nicky’s turn. Nicky and Paris are the granddaughters of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotel Corp. in 1946.

Nicky is planning a “Nicky O” hotel for Miami that will feature a 5,000-square-foot penthouse suite designed by Roberto Cavalli. The South Beach “Nicky O, a Nicky Hilton Hotel” is the fruit of a licensing arrangement with condo-hotel developer Robert Falor, the Falor Companies president converting the Breakwater and Edison hotels into the celebrity-branded complex.

Nicky also plans a “Nicky O” with Falor in Chicago, Falor’s home base. She has said she hopes to launch 10 hotels across the country in conjunction with Falor. That could stiff any plans Hilton Hotel Corp. has to launch a competitor to, say, W.

The Miami complex will rent suites for $300 to $5,000 a night. Miami’s Zilbert Realty Group is handling sales and marketing for 94 condo suites selling for a touch below $500,000 to $7 million-plus. Buyers will have access to the Nicky O lounge, expected to be one of South Beach’s hottest spots. No word yet on whether Paris will grace that snazzy joint with her warbling.

Normally, I’d consider appointment of a hotel sales director minor news, but the dateline of a recent public relations release caught my eye. Martin Wessels has joined the Kabul Serena Hotel as director of sales. Talk about opportunity fraught with danger.

Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan, one of the more volatile countries in a terrorism-ridden region. The Serena, however, is described as a five-star hotel, according to a recent visitor who posted comments about it on virtualtourist.com.

“Husain” says the well-located Serena is the most expensive hotel in town, with rates of $180 a night. The news release about Wessels notes that the Serena employs more than 300 staff, 90 percent of them Afghan.

Wessels should market to the upscale traveler. He seems to have the right kind of property, because the Kabul Serena is one of 22 hotels in the Aga Khan Development Network, a group of private development agencies working in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia and the Middle East.

May Wessels market the Kabul Serena to well-heeled international travelers. May those travelers not have to ask a Serena staffer for the nearest bomb shelter.