Chinese hoteliers' take on hotel co-branding in China

This paper aims to explore Chinese hoteliers' perspectives on co-branding between hotels and products of other industries or sectors. A survey with both structured and open-ended questions was distributed to 300 Chinese hotel executive level hoteliers attending the 2009 International Forum on China Hotel Brand Development. The results of the 72 surveys indicate benefits as well as drawbacks for both hotels and their potential co-branding partners in the Chinese hospitality industry, the most important being the lack of brand awareness for both Chinese and Western brands. The paper contributes to the existing literature by adding the Chinese hospitality industry context into the much studied Western industry context: the research is timely given the position and significance of the Chinese market in the world tourism arena.