The Leading Hotels of the World

The Leading Hotels of the World
Industry Hospitality, tourism
Founded 1928
Headquarters New York City
Key people
 Andrea Kracht, chairman
Owner Hotel Representative, A.G.
Parent Hotel Representative, A.G.
Website www.lhw.com Edit this on Wikidata

The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) is a consortium of more than 375 luxury hotels and resorts in over 75 countries. It is headquartered in New York City, and maintains offices in 25 cities worldwide. The consortium is owned by Swiss-based Hotel Representative, A.G.. As of 2011 Andrea Kracht, proprietor of Baur au Lac in Zürich, Switzerland, is the chairman of Hotel Representative, A.G., and Theodore (Ted) Teng is the president and chief executive officer.[1]

History

The company was established in 1928 under the name "Luxury Hotels of Europe and Egypt".[2] It initially had 38 member hotels, including Hotel Negresco in Nice, the Mena House in Cairo and the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.[1]

Leading Hotels of the World started as a reservation service for independent hotels, and later supported sales and marketing, advertising and public relations, financial services, quality control, and hotel inspections for its member properties.[3] The company does not own hotels; some member hotels are independent, others are part of chains.

In the early 2000s, LHW created Leading Trust in joint-venture with Trinity Hotel Investors, a $1 billion fund to acquire hotel members of the LHW network. Its first acquisition was The Cadogan in London. The joint-venture Leading Interactive Reservations was also created to strengthen LHW's web presence in 2001.[4] In 2003, LHW launched on its website a section for agents to book guests and receive full commissions.[5]

Since 2016, the company has partnered with WayBlazer to make recommendations about which of its hotels might fit potential customers' desires. WayBlazer uses artificial intelligence based on the Watson’s cognitive computing technology to recommend destinations.[6][7]

Description

The company restricts membership to luxury hotels and resorts, which are inspected and voted on by the company's executive committee on a regular basis.[8][9]

References

  1. 1 2 Corgel, Jack B.; Sturman, Michael C.; Verma, Rohit (26 April 2011). The Cornell School of Hotel Administration on Hospitality: Cutting Edge Thinking and Practice. John Wiley and Sons. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-470-55499-9. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2013-08-22.
  3. ↑ Fyall, Alan; Garrod, Brian (2004). Tourism Marketing: A Collaborative Approach. Channel View Publications. p. 270. ISBN 978-1-873150-89-4. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
  4. ↑ "INTERVIEW: Paul McManus, president and chief executive of The Leading Hotels of the World". Ehotelier.com. 10 October 2003. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "LHW debuts Leading Agent booking site". Travelweekly.com. 9 December 2003. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  6. ↑ Levere, Jane L. (30 May 2016). "When a Robot Books Your Airline Ticket". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ "Leading Hotels of the World Uses AI to Drive Destination Discovery". Emarketer.com. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "About Us : History, Standards and Team  : Leading Hotels of the World". lhw.com. The Leading Hotels of the World. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Devina Divecha (23 September 2016). "Company update: The Leading Hotels of the World". Hoteliermiddleeast.com. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
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