NEW YORK—The Leading Hotels of the World’s new logo was not rubber-stamped in a closed-door meeting at the organization’s New York headquarters. It’s creation took on a far more collaborative approach—one that saw an evolution of constant tweaks and revisions as it made its way from one regional meeting to another across the globe.
The process was fitting, giving the marketing and membership group’s new client-centric focus, said Claudia Kozma Kaplan, LHW’s senior VP of marketing, who led the rebranding initiative.
Whereas in the past the executive team behind that storied script logo was focused more on advancing the Leading Hotels brand, the organization—under the leadership of president and CEO Ted Teng, who took the post in August 2008—is putting almost all of its efforts toward its ever-growing cache of 430 independent, luxury hotels in 80 countries.
“It’s our hotels who make us who we are,” Kozma Kaplan said. “Rather than put ourselves forward, we’re happy to put our hotels forward.”
To that end, the new LHW logo is understated yet sophisticated. Gone is the opulent script that has identified the organization since 1976. In its stead are three simple initials—LHW—stacked vertically and hovering above the established date of 1928, which harkens to the long and storied tradition of the affiliation.
|
|
|
The organization is in the process of sending its member hotels new brass plaques emblazoned with the new branding, several variations of which are available to complement the unique aesthetics and characters of different hotel entryways.
“Our hotels themselves, many of them are much more famous than we are,” Kozma Kaplan said. “It was also important for us to have a recognizable logo … but not one that overshadowed our hotel’s logos, which are often very elaborate.”
A return to its core
The rebranding initiative began as an exercise of self-awareness. The appointment of Teng brought with it a reevaluation of what made the Leading Hotels brand special and unique. That answer, Kozma Kaplan said, was relatively simple.
“We have this diagram where one circle is luxury, one circle is global, and one circle is independent,” she said. “Our sweet spot is where those three intersect. We own that space.”
What was more difficult was translating that identity into practice.
The group began with a “serious” look at every single property in its portfolio, evaluating each to improve the overall quality and standard of its offerings, Kozma Kaplan said. The LHW management team then took an even harder look at its own efforts to serve its 430 client hotels. Departments were realigned, refocused and brought back on track—all with the aim of driving more business to the LHW portfolio.
“We are the ultimate solution to an independent luxury hotel that wants to remain independent, doesn’t want to have standards mandated on them, wants to have a very unique sense of place and has management that wants to run their own show, but at the same time … wants to be part of a global sales and marketing distribution network so they can compete with the big chains,” Kozma Kaplan said.
|
Claudia Kozma Kaplan |
‘Without a hitch’
The rebranding effort thus far has gone off “without a hitch,” Kozma Kaplan said. If she was surprised by anything, it was how the logo was so universally and happily accepted by members.
“It was wonderful to say the least,” she said.
The rebranding was announced in April and is still being rolled out throughout the world. The target date for completion is the end of this year.
While it is too early to tell how the rebranding is impacting bookings, Kozma Kaplan said the new logo and tagline—“All kinds of one of a kind”—is resonating with travelers.
“I meet people now who know our tagline, which has never happened before (in my eight years of working for LHW),” she said.