The Leading Hotels of the World

The Leading Hotels of The World, Ltd. is the luxury hospitality organization representing more than 450 of the world’s finest hotels, resorts and spas, located in over 80 countries around the world. As the largest international luxury hotel brand, the firm maintains sales and marketing offices in 26 major 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 1,500 separate criteria.

History

The company was established in 1928 [ [http://www.fairmont.com/fr/montreux/AboutUs/Historique.htm Historique de l'hôtel] ] by a group of influential and forward-thinking 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 founders 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, Ltd. 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.

Today, The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. 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.

The $19.28 Room Sale Controversy

On October 1 2008, an anniversary promotion was attempted whereby LHW offered 6,000 rooms for $19.28 as a tribute to the year in which they were founded, 1928. Their site was unable to handle the traffic and crashed even before the offer was to begin at noon GMT. [ [http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/press-announcement-leading-hotels-world/story.aspx?guid={96E97DBD-43CD-4462-BF26-AB69C0A46B45}&dist=hppr Market Watch, Press Announcement From The Leading Hotels of the World, 1 Oct 2008] ] . None of the 6,000 rooms on offer were sold, and a second solution to offer rooms on a first-come, first-served basis was also withdrawn later the same day. The President & CEO of LHW, Ted Teng, issued a personal letter on the company website apologising to the 150,000 registered participants of the promotion, and promised a new solution was in the works [ [http://www.lhw.com/Promo1928/EndOfPromotion.htm Ted Teng, End Of The Promotion] ] . To date, no solution has been announced.

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