Loews Hotel’s Development Plan Picks Up Speed

Loews Hotels has always been known as a very high end, yet small luxury hotel brand, with locations in highly populated urban areas, as well as three themed resorts within Universal Studios in Orlando Florida.

Loews Hotels is a subsidiary of Loews Corporation – a company run by the Tisch family which also controls CNA Insurance, Bulova Corporation, Lorillard Tobacco Corporation (maker of Newport Cigarettes) and a number of oil pipeline and exploration companies. Members of the Tisch family at one time owned or controlled CBS, Loews Theaters and the NY Giants. Loews Corporation has no relation to Lowes Home Improvement (notice the slight spelling difference).

Loews has 18 hotels throughout North America (16 in America, 2 in Canada) and I believe all of the hotels are owned and operated by Loews Hotels, none of them are franchised, nor does Loews franchise their brand – yet.

In the past Loews has opened up hotels slowly – this is not a company where you will find a number of hotels in active development with an even larger number in the pipeline – yet.

Earlier this week I came across an article which gives a little more insight in where Loews Hotels is going..

Loews Hotels, under the leadership of its founder Jonathan Tisch, is moving from an asset management company (a company which mainly just ensures its “investments” function properly and profitably) into a full fledged hotel brand. Some of the moves they are initiating are a new logo, more unified training throughout the different locations, a “friendlier” look to customers and a re-designed website.

I believe this means only one thing – Loews is getting ready for a big hotel development push which will expand the brand in more locations in America – as well as the world, probably via joint ventures, and company owned hotels.

I’m very excited for this because even though I’ve never stayed at a Loews Hotel, they have always had a cachet in my mind which says – tasteful luxury, high end, yet not ostentatious and overpowering. Staying at a Loews Hotel you can expect to be treated well, have superior surroundings in a modern setting.

Loews recently announced the Loews Hotel Atlanta which is scheduled to open in 2010, and I think once the beginning of 2008 rolls around, we’ll see a lot more action with the Loews Hotel brand.

It will be interesting to see what their plans are – creating additional flags? Simply expanding their current brand to new locations? Acquisitions – either existing hotels to be converted, or existing hotel flags to be put under the Loews Hotel brand?

We’ll have to see.. But I know that whatever Loews does – it will be done with tasteful class.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

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Category: construction, Hotel Development, Hotels, loews hotels