Originally Posted by
Jasper2009
I'll blame you if I get nightmares tonight.
Sorry about that.
Actually, the sight of a bright green Holiday Inn "H" overlooking the Bow River on the roof of the Banff Springs should be enough to make Cornelius Van Horne roll over in his grave with nightmares.
If I had the talent, it sounds like a good Photoshop exercise plastering the various IHG brand logos across the most iconic properties around the world, to illustrate how horribly bad an idea such a merger would be.
Originally Posted by
Jasper2009
I'd agree, the least bad option would be to keep the Fairmont branding (along with its separate loyalty program, management and customer service), but I doubt that would happen in the long-run.
Even today, FRHI doesn't mix the Fairmont loyalty program with Raffles or Swissotel. The branding is kept distinct, and while there are linkages (like earning stay credits across chains), that's about it. However, you can see when making a booking that they share systems. The booking engines work the same way, and I recall making back to back reservations at the Swissotel Geneva and Fairmont Montreux, the confirmation numbers seem to be using the same sequence.
So even the current owners recognize the need for a distinction, and that's with brands that arguably have a lot more in common for mixing than Fairmont would have with IHG properties.