The Corporate Brand: Help or Hindrance?†

Lilypad Hotels and Resorts may rebrand its boutique properties under the corporate name. Will customers and hotel managers buy in—or simply check out?

Harvard Business Review, February 1, 2008 — Andre Cleary absentmindedly fidgeted with the bottle of melatonin tablets in his left hand, lightly jiggling the pills with each twitch of his wrist. He had hoped to catch up on some much-needed sleep during the 20-hour flight to Rio de Janeiro—this being the final leg of a six-week series of meet and greets that had taken the CEO of Lilypad Hotels and Resorts across the continental United States, over to the Middle East, and now to South America. He sat comfortably in the first-class cabin of a 767, loafers under the seat, pillow poised to do its job.