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Wyndham Hotels & Resorts ' 24th brand , ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham .
months did not offer a formal name to its new affordable midscale brand , which it originally announced in June , at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference . It was initially marketed as Project MidX Studios , which sounded like a film production company . In August , it finally and formally named the brand StudioRes .
Not to be outdone is Hilton . In May , it launched a new apartment-style extended-stay brand with , you guessed it , a
Marriott International ' s new affordable midscale brand was codenamed Project MidX Studios , until it formally announced it as StudioRes .
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provisional name : Project H3 . In this name , we at least have the distinguishable “ H ” and Hilton ' s two other extendedstay brands also begin with the letter H : Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites . So , there is some continuity .
About a month ago , I had the pleasure of visiting Hilton headquarters outside Washington , D . C ., and caught up with Hilton ' s chief brand officer , Matt Schuyler , as he showed me actual guestroom buildouts of the interim-named
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brand . The first question I posed to him , of course : When can we expect a name ?
His response : “ I ' d give you a wide range of six to 12 months , given the way the process rolled for the last couple of names that we ' ve tried to get through the trademark process . It ' s not just working through their milestones and their gating factors , but then you have to potentially work with outside companies that have that brand that they ' re using . So we just don ' t know yet . We ' re on a pathway .”
Nothing you can share , Matt ? I mean , just between you and me . On the QT .
“ We want to name this . The challenge with this brand , in particular , unlike some other brands in the past , is we want this name to be commensurate with the product to tell the consumer that this is a long-stay extended-stay type of product . Other names , like Spark , [ Ed note : Spark by Hilton was launched in January 2023 in
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what Hilton calls the premium economy space ] didn ' t need to try so much to understand what the product means . We can define it over time . But with this one , we want it to right out of the gates resonate with the customer in terms of what the product really is .”
I am not easily discouraged , unless it has anything to do with IKEA assembly . Like everything in business , there is a process . When it comes to developing a new brand , beyond design , standards , story , there is trademark . Unfortunately , one can ' t just conjure or borrow a name and make it their own for commercial use . If I decided to drop the name David and market myself as Air Jordan , I ' d probably receive a ceaseand-desist letter from Nike .
Therefore , it ' s likely that a lodging company wants to come straight out of the gates with a formalized brand name , but trademark rules , sometimes , prevent that .
Trademarks , patents , copyrights , domain names and business name registrations are routed through the United States Patent and Trademark Office . A trademark typically protects brand names and logos used on goods and services . There are many factors that affect how long it takes to register a trademark . In fact , there ’ s no guarantee a trademark will ever register , as it may be refused for various legal reasons . Usually , the process takes 12 to 18 months . Registering a trademark is
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September 2023 hotelsmag . com 49 |