As the W Hotel officially opened its first property in London last night with a bash that included a performance by Mick Jones and Roger Daltrey (a pre-opening sneak peek shows its Leicester Square surroundings, above) another trend is sweeping the hotel world.

Rather than opening new properties, major hotel brands are using a new strategy to grow. Squeezed by rising costs and tight credit, they're "reflagging" or rebranding to convert an existing hotel property to be part of a different brand family.Continue reading...

Love the black cod with miso (as Robert De Niro does) and other award-winning dishes at Nobu Matsuhisa's Nobu restaurants? Then you'll welcome the first Nobu-branded hotel. Caesars Palace is helping bring the Japanese chef's brand, built on his global network of 23 restaurants, to Las Vegas.

The partners today announced they are developing the world's first Nobu Hotel, "an innovative concept that will integrate an exclusive hotel tower with the first Nobu restaurant and lounge on the Las Vegas Strip."

As Starbucks continues to recover and reinvent itself, CEO Howard Schultz keeps looking around for new areas to spread his powerful brand. Via instant coffee was one result of Starbucks’ reinvention.

The next domain for Starbucks might be single-serve coffee.

It's an area the brand is exploring with with a new deal to provide single-serve coffee to a half-million luxury and premium hotel rooms. Consider that the scent of things to come. 

Green Mountain essentially staged the single-serve revolution with its patented K-cup coffee pods for its Keurig makers and has cornered about 80% of the segment, but Schultz isn't phased.

And even though Starbucks already puts its brand on single-serve pods for Braun machines, he sniffs a much bigger opportunity.Continue reading...

Emirates Palace, the Abu Dhabi luxury resort, tried to outshine its Las Vegas-style laser beams and gold-dispensing vending machine with the world's most expensive Christmas tree — a 43-foot faux fir trimmed with gold, rubies, diamonds and a price tag of $11 million.

Following criticism at the display of opulence, the hotel said in a statement picked up by AP that it regrets "attempts to overload the tradition followed by most hotels in the country with meanings and connotations that do not fall in line with the (hotel's) professional standards."

It also blamed one of its commercial tenants, a jeweler, for creating and decorating the tree — stating, "The hotel is just a venue for exhibiting the tree."

One look at branding developments in the hotel industry and you could argue that it is out-pacing most other industries when it comes to redefining its product offerings.

These days, hotel chains are acutely aware of their brands, emphasizing bold style and unique amenities with an eye towards distinction and differentiation. The way W Hotels portrays its properties online, the recent opening of the Element eco-chic hotel in New York City, the carefully executed rebranding of Doubletree Hotels, and the success of branded boutique hotels are some examples of the hotel industry's sophistication when it comes to brand marketing.

Le Meridien is yet another success story.Continue reading...

To celebrate the debut of the new W Hotel opening in London on Valentine's Day next year, W Hotels commissioned Away We Stay — a short romantic film portraying love and life choices which starring Helena Christensen, David Gandy and the brand, of course.Continue reading...

Cars and consumer products are going green, so why not hotels? Element, a Starwood hotel brand, is the first major hotel brand to mandate that all its properties must receive LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

While Element hotels launched its first property in the U.S. in 2008, the chain just established an outpost in New York City. The "Element New York Times Square West" opened on November 18, and it's billed as one of the city's greenest properties. Click through for a close-up.Continue reading...

Photo: The Telegraph

Talk about eating, breathing and sleeping a brand:  The new Food Hotel in Neuwied, Germany, is sponsored by some of Germany’s top food brands and is completely decked out in a food theme, from can-shaped furniture to barstools made of beer crates.

The Rhine River hotel is a collaboration of 36 German brands, who helped contribute to the cost of construction. Each guest room is sponsored by a food brand, which was given free rein to create a theme and paid for furnishing it.Continue reading...