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By calling the product the "Autograph Collection," rather than the "Autograph Collection by Marriott," the hospitality giant shields its main brand from fallout should the marketing effort not do well. Some in the industry might consider it a drawback for participating properties that Marriott isn't attaching its name to the new endeavor.
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"I think that Marriott's entering into the competition," Rompf said. For Marriott, the Autograph Collection will offer competition to the Leading Hotels of the World Ltd., a group of independently branded properties that target high-end customers looking for unique experiences when they travel, said Paul Rompf, an associate professor who specializes in hospitality marketing at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management. The Kessler properties joining the Autograph Collection by April include both local hotels - the Grand Bohemian Hotel and, in Osceola County, the Celebration Hotel - as well as hotels in St.
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Kessler, who in 2006 dropped the Westin brand from its downtown Orlando hotel in favor of a go-it-alone approach. It's a change in strategy for the group and its entrepreneurial chief executive, Richard C. The deal, he said, is an "opportunity for us to maintain our independence but leverage the power of their distribution channels." The agreement pairs Marriott, a well-known business brand, with Kessler, a hotel group that says its strength is the weekend traveler. "We did not want to dilute that or change it by trying to homogenize it within a brand," said Scott Schreiber, president of Enterprise Hotels of Orlando, which manages the properties. The Kessler hotels will operate autonomously, keeping their names and identity. The new franchise-marketing agreement makes the Kessler hotels part of Marriott's newly launched Autograph Collection, a portfolio of independent luxury hotels and resorts. The Kessler Collection, an Orlando-based hotel group that owns the Grand Bohemian in downtown Orlando, said Monday it has signed a marketing partnership with Marriott International Inc.