THE BRANDS GENERAL INFORMATION FEES ASCEND HOTEL COLLECTION l Brand Launched: 2008 l Initial: $375/room, l Competitive Set: Preferred Hotel $30,000 minimum Choice Hotels International started the Group, Small Luxury Hotels l Membership: 4% Ascend Hotel Collection six years ago to l Target Customer: Discerning l Marketing and appeal to owners of upscale hotels that had travelers seeking to connect Reservation: 2.5% an independent identity but could still benefit meaningfully with a culture or from access to the resources and distribution community tools of a major brand company. Today, 125 l U.S. Properties/ hotels have signed on worldwide. Ascend Number of Rooms: 108/9,447 properties tend to emphasize authentic, local l In the Global Pipeline: 27 travel experiences. AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION l Brand Launched: 2010 l Application is the greater of l Competitive Set: Curio, Leading $60,000 or $200 per key Early this year, Pier South Resort in San Diego Hotels of the World, The Luxury l Royalty: 5% of gross and the Hotel Chicago became the latest U.S. Collection, Preferred Hotel Group room sales properties to join Marriott International’s l Target Customer: An individualist l Marketing: 1.5% of gross Autograph Collection. The two brought who seeks out original experiences room sales Autograph’s portfolio to 60 hotels and resorts that feed an inherent sense of worldwide since Marriott launched the soft adventure and curiosity brand in early 2010. Roughly half the portfolio l U.S. Properties/ is in the United States. More expansion is on Number of Rooms: 42/7,000 the horizon. l In the Global Pipeline: 49 BW PREMIER COLLECTION l Brand Launched: 2014 l Commission-based l Competitive Set: N/A In October, Best Western announced its l Target Customer: Urban and first soft brand offering, the BW Premier destination markets around Collection. Hotels within the BW Premier the world Collection will not be part of the official Best l U.S. Properties/ Western membership, but they will be listed Number of Rooms: N/A and can be booked on the Best Western l In the Global Pipeline: 0 website. Guests will be able to earn and redeem Best Western Rewards points at all BW Premier Collection hotels. CURIO—A COLLECTION BY HILTON l Brand Launched: 2014 l Application: $75K + l Competitive Set: $400/room (+250 rooms) Curio—A Collection by Hilton takes its name Autograph Collection l Royalty: 5% from the idea of a “museum curator” who l Target Customer: Travelers who l Program: 4% curates a selection of distinctive objects. seek local discovery and authentic l Loyalty: 4.3% Hilton Worldwide expects to focus on upper- experiences l PIP: $7,500 upscale, full-service hotels in locations around l U.S. Properties/ the world, the criteria for membership being Number of Rooms: 2/1,798 that each hotel be individual and, therefore, l In the Global Pipeline: 6 distinctive from one another. To date, two properties have joined, both conversions. IBC HOTELS l Brand Launched: 2008 l 10% only for IBC-generated l Competitive Set: Best Western, and consumed reservations Billed as a “group of independent hotels for Comfort Suites, Days Inn, Fairfield, the independent-minded traveler,” IBC Hotels Hampton, Holiday Inn, Microtel is a membership association focused primarily l Target Customer: on the economy to upper-midscale industry Business and family leisure tiers, though there are exceptions, including l U.S. Properties/ the five-star Arizona Biltmore Resort. Out Number of Rooms: 3,100/270,000+ of 6,498 hotels worldwide, accounting for l In the Global Pipeline: 613,700 rooms, 3,100 (and more than 270,000 Not disclosed rooms) are in the United States. INTERCONTINENTAL l Brand Launched: 1946 l Royalty and Marketing: ALLIANCE RESORTS l Competitive Set: Fairmont, Grand 7%-9% of GRR plus the Hyatt, JW Marriott, W Hotels, Westin application fee of $500 per IHG launched InterContinental Alliance l Target Customer: guestroom but not less Resorts in 2010, when it signed an agreement Business and leisure travelers than $60,000-$75,000. with the Las Vegas Sands Corp. under which l U.S. Properties/Number of (Note: InterContinental IHG would provide access to its marketing Rooms: 51/17,448 (Americas) Alliance Resorts falls under programs and distribution channels to the l In the Global Pipeline: 51 the InterContinental Hotels Sands’s two mega-resorts: The Venetian and & Resorts umbrella. Chart The Palazzo. Combined, the two properties info refers to InterContinental have close to 7,000 rooms. Hotels & Resorts.) NOVEMBER 2014 LODGINGMAGAZINE.COM 45 THE BRANDS GENERAL INFORMATION FEES LEADING HOTELS OF THE WORLD l Brand Launched: 1928 l Not disclosed l Competitive Set: In business since 1928, Leading Hotels of Preferred Hotel Group, the World today represents more than 430 Small Luxury, Relais & Chateaux luxury hotels of which 36 are in the United l Target Customer: Frequent States. The U.S. roster ranges from the Hotel international luxury travelers Granduca in Houston to the Hutton Hotel and rising luxury travel in Nashville, Tenn. A recent addition to the l U.S. Properties/ U.S. portfolio is the new Knickerbocker in Number of Rooms: 36/9,229 New York. Two categories of Leaders Club l In the Global Pipeline: 0 membership (for which travelers pay an annual fee) provide a range of benefits from airport transfers to room upgrades. LEXINGTON LEGACY HOTELS l Brand Launched: 2013 l Application: $3,000 l Competitive Set: Ascend l Initial: $27,000 + $200/room Vantage Hospitality established Lexington l Target Customer: Leisure, over 80 rooms Legacy Hotels and its sister Lexington Legacy business, and group travelers l Monthly Royalty: $35/ Inns as extensions of its Lexington Hotels l U.S. Properties/ room or 4% gross revenue; brand. Non-branded hotels and inns interested Number of Rooms: 2/760 $2,800 minimum in maintaining their independent status are l In the Global Pipeline: 5 l Monthly Marketing: $20/ invited to join. In return, they will have access room; $1,600 minimum to Vantage’s distribution and reservations resources. Lexington Legacy Hotels’s U.S. portfolio includes D Las Vegas Casino Hotel and Lions Gate Hotel & Conference Center in Sacramento, Calif. THE LUXURY COLLECTION l Brand Launched: 1906 l Initial: $85,000 HOTELS & RESORTS l Competitive Set: Autograph l Royalty: 5% of GRR Collection, InterContinental, l Marketing: 1% of GRR When the Excelsior Hotel Gallia in Milan joins Waldorf Astoria (capped at $450K) The Luxury Collection this fall, it will take its l Target Customer: Discerning place beside high-end properties in Odessa, adventurers, affluent global travelers Ukraine; Gurgaon, India; and Hangzhou, China, l U.S. Properties/ among other recent additions to the Starwood Number of Rooms: 13/3,948 Hotels & Resorts Worldwide soft brand. Dating l In the Global Pipeline: back to 1906, when it was founded as part Not disclosed of the Italy-based CIGA brand, The Luxury Collection today counts 85 properties in its portfolio, representing 30 countries. PREFERRED HOTEL GROUP l Brand Launched: 1968 Predominantly a pay-for- l Competitive Set: Autograph performance structure. The Preferred Hotel Group provides marketing Collection, Curio, Leading Hotels of Approximation: and distribution support to more than 650 the World, The Luxury Collection, l Application: luxury hotels and resorts in roughly 85 Small Luxury Hotels, Worldhotels $100-$150 per room countries. The company is composed of six l Target Customer: Transient leisure, l Royalty (annual): related business units, the most prominent corporate individual, association, and $150-$350 per room being Preferred Hotels & Resorts. One unit, for group segments who seek a one-of- l Marketing (annual): example, specializes in boutique properties. a-kind hotel experience that delivers $10,000-$20,000 In the United States, the portfolio ranges the authenticity of a destination l Percentage of GRR: from The Montage Beverly Hills to The Sherry l U.S. Properties/ 1.5% to 2.5% Netherland in New York. Number of Rooms: 213/49,663 l In the Global Pipeline: 41 SMALL LUXURY l Brand Launched: 1990 l Initial: $24,150 l l HOTELS OF THE WORLD Competitive Set: Design, Leading First 20 Rooms: $22,339; Hotels of the World, Preferred Hotel each additional room: $274 Celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, Group, Relais & Châteaux (up to 150 guestrooms) Small Luxury Hotels of the World represents l Target Customer: l GDS Transactions: 6% 520 hotels worldwide in more than 80 Affluent luxury travelers plus $3.54 transaction fee countries. The portfolio, which targets affluent l U.S. Properties/ l Internet Transactions travelers, ranges from hotels and resorts Number of Rooms: 29/2,012 Via Travel Agency: 6% to country houses. SLH’s Club program has l In the Global Pipeline: 50-60 plus $3.54 transaction fee more than 350,000 consumers signed up, the l All Other Direct Internet majority in the desirable 35-to-54-year-old Transactions: 10% demographic. In the United States, SLH counts Contact SLH (www.slh.com) 29 hotels as members. for additional fees. 46 LODGINGMAGAZINE.COM NOVEMBER 2014.