# Hotels: Popular names vs chains

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-popular-names-vs-chains/339557>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 11, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-popular-names-vs-chains/339557 "2006-01-11T21:15:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-popular-names-vs-chains/339557/1 "2006-01-11T21:15:18Z")

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In most larger cities in the world, you’ll encounter a number of hotel names you’d also find elsewhere. I’d be interested in which of these frequent names are brands of international hotel chains, and which are simply popular names used by many independent companies.

It’s clear that Hilton and Sheraton, to name two examples, are chains (with the additional difficulty that apparently there are two different companies that use the Hilton brand, due to a split of the original company, but I don’t know details). What about other frequent names such as Intercontinental, Grand Hotel, or Four Seasons?

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**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-popular-names-vs-chains/339557/2 "2006-01-12T00:28:03Z")

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Four Seasons and Intercontinental are both brand names (chains) as well. Using the word “grand” in the name is pretty common.

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-popular-names-vs-chains/339557/3 "2006-01-12T06:03:21Z")

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> [@EJsGirl](#):
>
> Four Seasons and Intercontinental are both brand names (chains) as well. Using the word “grand” in the name is pretty common.

In the U.S.A., presidents’ names also seem to be fairly common on hotels, like the Roosevelt in Hollywood and the Grant in San Diego. Often, though, they too are run by one of the major international chains. In general, famous old hotels that used to be independent and have still maintained their quality of service continue to be known by their original names even after being bought by a corporation.

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**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotels-popular-names-vs-chains/339557/4 "2006-01-12T07:29:25Z")

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You will find the **Bristol Hotels** all over the world. The possible explanation for this can be found [here](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2000/04/15/etherv15.xml)