The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. is a hospitality consortium owned by Hotel Representative, A.G. It represents over 430 hotels and resorts worldwide. Headquartered in New York City, the consortium maintains offices in 24 cities world wide.
The Leading Hotels of the World started as a reservation service for independent hotels. It is now a full-service hotel consortium which supports sales and marketing, advertising and public relations, financial services, quality control, and hotel inspections for its member properties.[1] It is not a hotel chain itself; its member hotels are typically independents, though some are themselves individual properties that are part of chains. The Leading Hotels of the World has formed strategic alliances with another similar consortium, Relais et Chateaux.
The company was established in 1928 under the name "Luxury Hotels of Europe and Egypt."[2] It initially had 38 member hotels, including Hotel Negresco in Nice, the Mena House in Cairo and King David Hotel in Jerusalem.[3]
As of 2011[update] Andrea Kracht, proprietor of Baur au Lac in Zurich, Switzerland, is the chairman of Hotel Representative, A.G., and Theodore (Ted) Teng is the president and chief executive officer.[3] It currently maintains a network of 24 offices around the world.