What does "soft brand" mean in the hotel industry?

A soft brand is a 'chain' or franchise organization affiliation that has a hotel relying primarily on its individual identity rather than that of the 'chain' or organization. The hotel gets to tap into the 'chain's' reservation system, but the formal connection is a little more subtle and discreet.

Perhaps the most famous 'soft brand' - through much of its history, anyway, even if many of their member hotels are not doing a very good job of taking advantage of it nowadays - is Best Western. At one time, they encouraged their member hotels to develop their unique brand identity, with Best Western as part of that identity, rather than operate a "Best Western Inn and Suites", or "Best Western of Podunk" and people I've talked to at Best Western now tell me they're about to try and swing back toward that.

Historic Hotels of America is another good example of a soft brand. While some of those hotels do have more than one brand or chain affiliation, seriously, can you imagine the Lord Baltimore or the Royal Hawaiian being reflagged as a Hilton, or a Sheraton? The Hotel Bethlehem in Bethlehem, Pa., will always be the Hotel Bethlehem first, and it can't be any other way. (Well, it could, but reflagging the Hotel Bethlehem as a Marriott would go over as a bad joke, a desecration, a discredit to both the Hotel Bethlehem and Marriott.) Any chain affiliation it has for a time (a decade or two - indeed, for a couple years, it was the 'Radisson Hotel Bethlehem') will be merely secondary.

Speaking of Marriott, their 'Autograph Collection' soft brand includes such iconic properties as Algonquin Hotel Times Square in New York City, the Hotel Chicagoand the unique Pier One Sydney Harbour -- none of which are your ordinary, average big-box Marriott, nor would any of them look right if you tried to make them into one. But their affiliation puts them in Marriott's referral networks, for which they pay Marriott some fees and agree to a few uniform standards.

For the last twenty years, Choice Hotels' ambitions have exceeded their capabilities. But now they've raised the bar, that they can never quite seem to clear, even higher: they have the 'Ascend Collection'. Neither the Peacock Inn in Princeton, New Jersey nor the Hotel Blake in Chicago could - nor should - ever be converted into a Comfort Inn. But each has a very similar arrangement with the somewhat weaker Choice Hotels system, so if you check online for an Econo Lodge in Chicago or a cheap Quality Inn in Princeton and scroll down, there they'll be.

Hilton has done the same with Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts but I'm not so sure about this one - there can only be one Waldorf. Hilton's new Curio brand (A Collection of Unique Hotels ) is created from scratch as a soft brand and seems to be more appropriate to this purpose.

It's a way for a chain organization to include a true 'boutique' hotel, and for that hotel to tap into a 'chain's' resources without being force-fit into a ‘chain’.

Originally appeared on Quora