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43,000 corporate operated hotels worldwide offering in the region of 5.5 million
rooms (worldwide hotel activity report, 2007)

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Brand personality is the way a brand speaks and behaves. It means assigning human
personality traits/characteristics to a brand so as to achieve differentiation.
(Management Study Guide, 2008)

EX: Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, both serve coffee.

Dunkin Donuts is known for their sinful delights in addition to their coffee, they dont
offer much back story in terms of where they get their beans. Starbucks, on the other
hand, is all about the caf experience, the origin of their beans and the process from
which they produce a line of hot beverages. Just saying their names can evoke
completely different responses. (Viget Inspire, 2009)

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Competitive Edge is having a clear advantage over the competition in terms of
one or more elements of the market mix that is valued by potential customers.
(Pearson Education,2004)

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The term 'positioning' refers to the consumer's perception of a product or service in
relation to its competitors. Marketers decide upon a competitive position which
enables them to distinguish their own products from the offerings of their
competition. (Marketing Teacher, 2000) Positioning is vital in any industry, but is more
so in the hospitality industry due to the personalization of the customer experience.
(Ayushveda marketing, 2009)

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It is at once the story about what makes you different from your competitors and the
emotional tug that connects you with your audienceall in one or a few words.
A brand name that wields that much power can only come through a powerful
positioning strategy. (Brand Identity Guru)

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Such elements would not only distinguish a brand from it competitors but also make
the customer recall the brand they prefer.

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Brands are among a companys most valuable assets (kotler 2006:316) and have an
emotional appeal, evoking trust, quality and reliability (Connell 2006:334)

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The forms of concentrated growth alliances, franchising, management contracts,
joint ventures and acquisition, strategic alliances are comon in the international
hospitality industry.

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Many airlines would develop or acquire their own hotels as a way of ensuring that
their flight crew and passengers had somewhere to sleep, benefits of linkages with
airlines include corss-marketing reservation system linkage, promotional tie ins and
frequent flyer promotions

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Globalization and its side effects have had a very profound effect on branding. As
markets have integrated, brands have found themselves travelling beyond national
borders.

Culture becomes a very crucial factor that determines the brands success. Many
global brands have dealt with cultural issues very well and have adopted their brands
to suit the diverse cultural demands of different regions in which they operate.
(Venture Republic, 2001)

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Hence the key to the success of a bran in the international market could be led by the
extent to which the it is flexible to different accommodate customer requirements as
per their culture and background, while ensuring the customers experience of the
brand is the same around the world.

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