Does a Hotel Company Need an Umbrella Brand?

(MoneyWatch)  Just last week, Hilton announced it was changing its corporate name to Hilton Worldwide. The iconic "H" logo which Hilton hasn't really used domestically for quite some time is coming back, though it's turned on its side. But the bigger question is this . . . does a hotel company need an umbrella brand?

I recent spoke with IHG's VP of Loyalty Programs Don Berg, and that was one of the topics that came up. IHG, as you may know, is the parent company of brands like Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Intercontinental. But more likely than not, you don't know the IHG name at all.

I brought that fact up with Don right away. Some companies have really worked hard to build an umbrella brand. Starwood, for example, has put a lot of effort into the Starwood Preferred Guest program being a unifying force for all the brands. So what did IHG think about that?

Don explained that at IHG, there has been "a lot of internal discussions about whether we should try to make it [a brand]."

On one hand, he says that they would "have to spend a lot of money to make it something that the customers would know and understand." He points to Starwood where the tie between the Starwood brand and its hotel brands still is relatively low in customers' minds despite the massive spend on it. So why bother?

Well, Don says that "at the top of the list is Marriott which has their name on all their brands. There's a bit of a disadvantage for programs that don't have a branded name across all their hotels and their loyalty program."

So there is a benefit to having a strong, consistent brand, but that's something that Marriott specifically and organically built up over years. The jury still appears to be out on whether or not that brand can successfully be built up artificially in a shorter period of time.