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[Brand discussion] Marriott's Luxury Collection vs. Hilton's LXR

[Brand discussion] Marriott's Luxury Collection vs. Hilton's LXR

Old Dec 11, 2018, 1:04 pm
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[Brand discussion] Marriott's Luxury Collection vs. Hilton's LXR

I'm not sure where this fits in the scheme of the Marriott/Starwood forums, so I'm starting it off as a new thread and will see where others/the mods take it.

Many of us legacy SPG folk have a familiarity with The Luxury Collection as being a literal collection of luxury-level properties with independent identities sharing a common, relatively loose brand that permitted said identities to shine through while conforming to some semblance of unified brand standards. Hilton has recently launched/revived the LXR brand and is positioning it as a luxury-level brand of independent properties in the 'luxury' tier as opposed to Curio Collection's positioning in the 'upper upscale' tier and Tapestry playing in the 'upscale-upper upscale' tier. Essentially, what they've done is mimic Marriott with the following:
  • The Luxury Collection - LXR
  • Autograph Collection - Curio
  • Tribute Portfolio - Tapestry
When looking at the below screenshot I just captured on Hilton's website based on the recent launch of a dedicated website for LXR, my read of LXR is that it is a rather shameless rip-off of The Luxury Collection, and LXR's verbiage of 'a luxury collection' of hotels reminds me of the snafu when Hilton launched their ill-fated Denizen brand in 2009 and it turned out to be an exercise in corporate espionage and leaked trade secrets molded off of Starwood's W brand.

Is this a matter of time before Marriott pipes up and rips Hilton over it la Denizen, or is this all's fair in [competition] love and war? Would be interesting to know what you guys think or make of it.

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Old Dec 11, 2018, 1:25 pm
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Its all marketing, who cares?
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Old Dec 11, 2018, 2:17 pm
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many on FT care and obsess over these things

same with waldorf and st regis, although waldorf brand was created in order to sign 3 management contracts with 1 company

luxury collection > ITT Sheraton > CIGA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starwo...ury_Collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherat...ury_Collection

hyatt has unbound

Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Dec 11, 2018 at 2:48 pm
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Old Dec 11, 2018, 2:20 pm
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I wish Hilton all the best of luck. The Marriott Luxury Collection is a fantastic group of properties where you get significant benefits by being a frequent guest of the group (or indeed Marriott in general). I would love Hilton to assemble a comparable group and I would send them an appropriate amount of business if they did. I doubt it will be easy for them though - not a whole lot of properties of that calibre and/ or history just floating around.
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Old Dec 11, 2018, 2:21 pm
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Originally Posted by travelinmanS
Its all marketing, who cares?
You do realize that loyalty programs, the purpose of this website, are nothing but marketing...right?
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Old Dec 11, 2018, 2:30 pm
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on the flip side re brands, having many brands is about catering to developers

hilton is competing by being more flexible, marriott has 25% more hotels

wonder if marriott / starwood proposed st regis flag to buyer of mandarin oriental vegas (went with waldorf)

LXR >

presume owner wanted marriott to franchise st regis and W, good they said no

no mention in hilton financials, so may be more like design hotels and SLH ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherat...ury_Collection
In 1998, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. acquired ITT Sheraton, outbidding Hilton.

hilton could have gotten luxury collection, i think most happy they didnt

Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Dec 11, 2018 at 4:28 pm
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Old Dec 11, 2018, 8:10 pm
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Originally Posted by CLEguy
You do realize that loyalty programs, the purpose of this website, are nothing but marketing...right?
That's not completely true. Yes, there is a large marketing aspect to loyalty programs, but there are actually tangible benefits that directly affect customers. Marketing (like coming up with a new name for a collection of luxurious properties) does not.
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Old Mar 7, 2019, 2:40 pm
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now confirmed it's franchise, so because no franchise for st regis (& W)
it is a very good thing that marriott does not franchise those top brands
ir.hilton.com/~/media/Files/H/Hilton-Worldwide-IR-V3/quarterly-results/2019/q4-2018-earnings-release.pdf

Dubai : Marriott management of St Regis / W / Westin to be terminated 31 Jul 2018

whether hilton can sign properties like in starwood/marriott luxury collection remains to be seen

hilton is doing ok with waldorf, but not necessarily great so far, not doing franchises

Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Mar 7, 2019 at 7:30 pm
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