The 1970s, an era of Arab oil boycotts, inflation and Carter austerity, were the heyday of the discount motel. At the time, mid-tier chains like Holiday Inn, Ramada Inn and Quality Inn offered pools and dining rooms. Many of them were “luxe” in a middle market sort of way. InMORE HERE
PARIS – The Accor brand hotel brand Pullman has announced a series of fitness pros at its properties, working with the Les Mills fitness company. The brand, known in the popular consciousness for sleeper railroad cars, has launched the Pullman Fitness Squad, a group of fitness ambassadors that help guestsMORE HERE
PARIS – The Accor luxury brand Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has debuted a brand campaign entitled “Experience the Grandest of” Seasons, Feelings, etc. The campaign “pays tribute to the tangible echoes of the luxury brand’s historic origins while also imparting a refreshed vision and stirring images of adventures yet to come.”MORE HERE
A tradition of the grand era of travel across the world is the railroad hotel. Railroads built these hotels in major cities or points of natural beauty, to encourage travel, and provide a place for travelers and railroad staff. Today, many of these railroad hotels are still around, though asMORE HERE
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – America has many versions of Perrier. One such brand, a brand also particularly connected to green bottles, is Mountain Valley Spring Water, continuously bottled since 1871 in Arkansas. This year, the brand celebrates its 150th Anniversary, with contests and travel awards. The founding date means thatMORE HERE
HONG KONG – Samsonite International S.A. (SEHK: 1910), the world’s best known luggage company, will establish its brand sourcing and development hub in Singapore. Samsonite will use the hub to manage sourcing for Asia and the Middle East, while also supporting sourcing for North America and Latin America. Samsonite’s Asia regionalMORE HERE
Periodically, we look at some of the new versions of old brands. A few revivals this summer: The Sahara Casino brand is back. It had become the SLS Las Vegas, only to return this month as Sahara Las Vegas. The hotel and casino complex would do well to completely embraceMORE HERE
The inventiveness of the 20th century left us with many viable, yet sometimes overlooked, genius brands. One such brand is the Heatilator, a fireplace heating system that gets more efficiency and safety out of the fireplace. Heatilator was the idea of making a cast iron wood stove look like aMORE HERE
Yangon, Myanmar – In every city, there are dozens of historic local brands that once defined a city, but have disappeared. The challenge is that often they were retail brands named after people or families, and a revival is, seemingly, a bit challenging. The store goes, the city changes, and anMORE HERE
BELIZE CITY – British Honduras, now Belize, became independent in 1981. Today, the Commonwealth country Belize has been one of the most successful post colonial countries. It has not only managed to preserve its institutions, but create a welcoming climate for locals and tourists, preserving its nature, farms, Mayan ruinsMORE HERE