The Leading Hotels of the World

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The Leading Hotels of The World, Ltd. (LHW) is a hospitality organization representing more than 450 of the world’s finest hotels, resorts and spas, located in over 80 countries around the world. As one of the largest international luxury hotel brand, the firm maintains sales and marketing offices in 24 markets across the globe. The Leading Hotels of the World owns and operates lhw.com and lhwspas.com.

Since 1928, the company’s reputation for excellence derives from the exacting levels of quality it demands of its members, each of which must pass a rigorous, anonymous inspection covering more than 800 separate criteria.

History

The company was established in 1928^[1] by a group of European hoteliers. With 38 initial members, among them Hotel Negresco in Nice and King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the organization was initially known as “The Luxury Hotels of Europe and Egypt”. Recognizing the importance of establishing direct contact with the traveling public and travel agencies in the North American market, the company opened an office in New York, calling this satellite operation “Hotel Representative, Inc.” – or HRI.

By the end of the 1960s, HRI had grown to represent 70 hotels – all of which were in Europe. Early in 1971, the board of directors and management of The Leading Hotels of the World decided to expand the scope of the organization to include new members from around the globe, to meet the demands of the increased numbers of international luxury travelers.

Hotel membership continued to grow through the next two decades, and with it, the need for the establishment of regional offices. By the end of the 1980s, there were 235 Leading Hotels of the World, serviced through offices in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America.

The Leading Hotels of the World registered the domain lhw.com in 1996 and created a website using this name. One year later, Online Travel Group, a South African company now registered as OTG Limited, registered the available domain leading-hotels.com and the following year registered leadinghotels.com which was also available.

In 2002, almost five years later, The Leading Hotels of the World decided to claim trademark infringement and instituted proceedings against OTG before the World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO rejected The Leading Hotels of the World's claim and ruled in favour of OTG, stating the company was not operating in bad faith and that use of the domain name leadinghotels.com by OTG had always been bona fide and used legitimately in connection with the company's online hotel reservation services.

The WIPO panel noted in its ruling that the phrase 'Leading Hotels' was highly descriptive and not distinctive and therefore on its own not capable of acting as a trademark. A fact recognized and corroborated by LHW in their further statement to WIPO in which they clearly disclaim exclusive rights to the phrase 'Leading Hotels'.

Despite this, the following year The Leading Hotels of the World filed a Community Trade Mark application to register 'Leading Hotels' for services in class 43. The application was rejected February 2006 by the European Trade Mark Office.

Then in April 2004, The Leading Hotels of the World application to register 'The Leading Hotels of the World' Logo in South Africa was refused by the Registrar of Trade Marks after OTG filed an opposition. The Leading Hotels of the World appealed the decision, but lost the appeal hearing in 2005.

One month after their trademark application was rejected by the South African Registrar, The Leading Hotels of the World went ahead and instituted legal proceedings against OTG in the French court on exactly the same grounds as those filed before the World Intellectual Property Organization and the South African High Court. LHW lost the Appeal and OTG were awarded the right to use the domain name leadinghotels.com which it still does today.

Today, The Leading Hotels of the World offers a variety of membership options to hotels starting from the planning and development stages, including brand licensing, technical and training consultation, revenue optimization, sales, marketing and other services.

Notes

References

• WIPO Decision: http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0241.html
• NEW ZEALAND ruling: http://www.baldwins.co.nz/articles/official14.html
• SOUTH AFRICA ruling: High Court of South Africa, Transvaal Provisional Division: Case No: A1338/04
• FRANCE ruling: Court d'Appel de Paris, Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, Case No: RG 06/81615

Extrernal links

• The Leading Hotels of the World