Originally Posted by
Kagehitokiri
ritz carlton may not be an option yet in london due to trademark, which may be why bvlgari london is the only bvlgari that is a marriott franchise rather than managed (by ritz carlton) like others. there was an old article mentioning this vaguely without details.
cpp-luxury.com/en/why-so-many-of-the-announced-luxury-hotels-are-delayed_1185.html
ritz london/paris(/madrid?) exclusive trademarks expire 2018?
presume after MO madrid renovations complete theyll drop "ritz"
From a 2011 article:
http://www.luxurytraveladvisor.com/r...s-herve-humler
"As for Europe, Ritz-Carlton has development offices in Zurich and London. It doesn’t have the license to open a hotel in Spain, Portugal, London or Paris, but it’s had the Hotel Arts in Barcelona for years. It also operates Penha Longa Hotel and Golf Resort in Portugal. In Paris and London, it uses the iconic Ritz hotels as partner properties.
“I wanted to make sure we have that relationship with them and one day, if they change their heart, at least we’re not far, we’re here to manage the hotel,” says Humler, “or, as much as we can, we can steer our customers to use them. That’s why we have them in our marketing agreement, that’s why we have them in the Ritz-Carlton website for reservation, and so on.”
I wonder if, and when, RC will be allowed to operate in their markets with their own flag and management.