Habtoor Palace
Source: Habtoor Palace.

Two More New Brands From Hilton: LXR Hotels & Resorts and Signia Hilton

Habtoor Palace became the first hotel property to be a part of the LXR Hotels & Resorts brand of Hilton earlier this year — a brand which emphasizes luxury with such words as unrivaled, legendary, pedigree and intriguing.

Two More New Brands From Hilton: LXR Hotels & Resorts and Signia Hilton

Located in the Al Habtoor City section of Dubai, the luxury hotel — which is currently the only property under the LXR Hotels & Resorts brand — has 234 guest rooms and will operate as an independent property as it formally joins the aforementioned upcoming luxury collection brand from Hilton. Ideally located on Sheikh Zayed Road and just steps from the Dubai Water Canal, the elegant Habtoor Palace features beaux-arts architecture throughout all guest rooms and public spaces.

Habtoor Palace is one of three hotels in Al Habtoor City which were rebranded by Hilton, as confirmed by this press release on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 which announced a new franchise agreement effective as of Wednesday, August 1, 2018. The other two properties are known as V Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton and Hilton Dubai Al Habtoor City.

The former brands of these hotel properties were St. Regis, W and Westin respectively — all of which are brands of Marriott International, Incorporated and formerly of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

The LXR Hotels & Resorts brand has an interesting history: back in August of 2005, the Blackstone Group — which acquired a majority stake in ownership of Hilton Hotels Corporation two years later for $26 billion — announced the formation of a new hotel brand to be known as the LXR Luxury Resorts Collection, which was to encompass “14 Wyndham hotels as well as seven hotels and resorts from Blackstones Boca Hospitality Collection and Prime Hospitality holdings”, according to this official press release.

This is also not the first time Hilton has attempted to create a luxury brand based on experiences and not solely on opulence: as I first reported in this article on Thursday, April 16, 2009, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Incorporated sued Hilton Hotels Corporation over the creation of what was to be known as the Denizen brand of hotel properties — which was to compete directly with the W hotel brand — with allegations at that time that Hilton stole greater than 100,000 documents of confidential information in order for Hilton to enter the lifestyle luxury hotel market as quickly and as inexpensively as possible. Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani were two executives who were hired from Starwood in order to develop the Denizen brand of hotel properties.

That lawsuit was settled in December of 2010, as Hilton agreed to pay Starwood $75 million in cash, with another $75 million in hotel-management contracts entitled to Starwood. Furthermore, a federal judge subjected Hilton to an injection which prohibited the lodging company from introducing any lifestyle hotel properties for two years.

Signia Hilton Brand

“Spoke with the team and confirmed we’ll be able to share more information in Q1 when we officially launch the brand.” This official statement from a contact of mine at Hilton was sent to me in response to my request to find out more about the new Signia Hilton brand, of which I first found out via this discussion posted on FlyerTalk.

Signia Hilton is confirmed as a brand in development which will be introduced in 2019; but what was not officially confirmed were the following details: that the first property of the Signia Hilton brand — of which premiere meetings and events will be its focus — will be located adjacent to the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

An international event will supposedly be hosted by Hilton in New York in February of 2019 to reveal what will be the 17th brand of the Hilton portfolio. Motto by Hilton was recently introduced as brand number 16, with LXR Hotels & Resorts as brand number 15.

Summary

Some people may say that multinational lodging companies are getting out of hand with introducing so many new brands. With 33 brands, AccorHotels has the most brands of any lodging group, with Marriott International, Incorporated in a close second place with 29 brands…

…and I would initially agree — but if the purpose of the brand can be clearly linked with the name and serve a distinct market which is either underserved or not served at all, then I can understand the introduction of a new brand.

Speaking of matching a brand, did you know that a whopping 158 hotel brands are parts of the worldwide portfolios of only ten lodging brands? Those lodging companies include, in alphabetical order:

  1. AccorHotels
  2. Best Western International, Incorporated
  3. Radisson Hotel Group
  4. Choice Hotels International, Incorporated
  5. Hilton
  6. Hyatt Corporation
  7. InterContinental Hotels Group
  8. Marriott International, Incorporated
  9. Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Incorporated
  10. Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC

Bonus Feature: How Well Do You Know Hotel Brands?

Listed in alphabetical order are 158 hotel brands — some of which had their parent lodging companies removed from their official names. Can you guess which hotel brands belong to which of the aforementioned lodging companies by matching the numbers of the list below with the letters of the above list? You get worthless bonus points if you can state the specific purpose of each brand — for example, if it is suites, luxury or extended stay.

  1. AC Hotels
  2. Adagio
  3. Adagio Access
  4. Adagio Premium
  5. Aloft
  6. AmericInn
  7. Andaz
  8. Angsana
  9. Ascend Hotel Collection
  10. Autograph Collection Hotels
  11. avid
  12. Banyan Tree
  13. Baymont Inns & Suites
  14. Best Western
  15. Best Western Plus
  16. Best Western Premier
  17. Best Western Premier Collection
  18. Best Western Signature Collection
  19. BreakFree
  20. Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts
  21. Cambria Hotels & Suites
  22. Candlewood Suites
  23. Canopy
  24. Clarion
  25. Comfort Inn
  26. Comfort Suites
  27. Conrad Hotels & Resorts
  28. Country Inns & Suites
  29. Courtyard by Marriott
  30. Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts
  31. Curio – A Collection
  32. Days Inn
  33. Dazzler Hotels
  34. Delta Hotels
  35. Design Hotels
  36. Dolce Hotels and Resorts
  37. DoubleTree
  38. EconoLodge
  39. EDITION
  40. Element
  41. Embassy Suites
  42. Esplendor Boutique Hotels
  43. EVEN Hotels
  44. Executive Residency
  45. Exhale
  46. Fairmont
  47. Fairfield Inn & Suites
  48. Four Points
  49. Gaylord Hotels
  50. GLō
  51. Grand Hyatt
  52. Grand Mercure
  53. Hampton Inn
  54. Hawthorn Suites
  55. Hilton Garden Inn
  56. Hilton Grand Vacations
  57. Hilton Hotels & Resorts
  58. Holiday Inn
  59. Holiday Inn Club Vacations
  60. Holiday Inn Express
  61. Holiday Inn Resort
  62. Home2 Suites
  63. Homewood Suites
  64. Hotel F1
  65. Hotel Formule1
  66. Hotel Indigo
  67. Howard Johnson
  68. Hualux Hotels and Resorts
  69. HUAZHU Hotels Group
  70. Hyatt
  71. Hyatt Centric
  72. Hyatt House
  73. Hyatt Place
  74. Hyatt Regency
  75. Hyatt Residence Club
  76. Hyatt Zilara
  77. Hyatt Ziva
  78. ibis
  79. ibis Budget
  80. ibis Styles
  81. InterContinental Hotels and Resorts
  82. JW Marriott
  83. Jo&Joe
  84. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
  85. Knights Inn
  86. La Quinta
  87. Le Méridien
  88. The Luxury Collection
  89. LXR Hotels & Resorts
  90. M/RAVAL
  91. MainStay Suites
  92. Mama Shelter
  93. Mantis Hotels and Eco Escapes
  94. Mantra
  95. Marriott Executive Apartments
  96. Marriott Hotels & Resorts
  97. Marriott Vacation Club
  98. Mercure
  99. MGallery by Sofitel
  100. Microtel
  101. Motto
  102. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts
  103. Moxy Hotels
  104. Novotel
  105. OneFineStay
  106. Park Hyatt
  107. Park Inn
  108. Park Plaza
  109. Peppers
  110. Prizeotel
  111. Protea Hotels
  112. Pullman
  113. Quality
  114. Radisson
  115. Radisson Blu
  116. Radisson Collection
  117. Radisson RED
  118. Raffles
  119. Ramada Worldwide
  120. Renaissance Hotels
  121. Residence Inn
  122. The Ritz-Carlton
  123. Rixos Hotels
  124. Rodeway Inn
  125. St. Regis
  126. Sheraton
  127. Signia Hilton
  128. Sleep Inn
  129. SO/
  130. Sofitel
  131. Sofitel Legend
  132. SpringHill Suites
  133. Staybridge Suites
  134. Suburban Extended Stay Hotel
  135. Super 8
  136. SureStay Collection
  137. SureStay Hotel
  138. SureStay PLUS Hotel
  139. Swissôtel
  140. The Sebel
  141. Tapestry Collection
  142. Thalassa Sea & Spa
  143. TownePlace Suites by Marriott
  144. Trademark Hotel Collection
  145. Travelodge
  146. Tribute Portfolio
  147. Tru
  148. Tryp
  149. Twenty Five Hours Hotels
  150. The Unbound Collection
  151. Vīb
  152. W
  153. Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts
  154. Westin
  155. Wingate
  156. Wyndham
  157. Wyndham Garden
  158. Wyndham Grand

Source: Habtoor Palace.


 

Please note that I receive compensation for affiliate links posted at The Gate With Brian Cohen effective as of Sunday, January 1, 2017. You are not required to use these affiliate links; but if you do use them, your support of The Gate With Brian Cohen is greatly appreciated — and using affiliate links will not cost you any extra time or money.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.

You have Successfully Subscribed!