Hotels magazine eyes 5-star subscribers

Best Westerns and Motor Inns need not apply for Luxury Hotelier, a new publication from business-to-business media company Questex Media Group.
The international magazine, set to debut in September, will serve the needs of corporate- and management-level individuals at high-end branded hotels globally.
“Our target audience is premier hotels and resorts,” said John McMahon, group publisher of Luxury Hotelier, Cleveland. “The new publication will list 4,000 hotels in the four- and five-star category around the world.”
Luxury Hotelier will have a controlled circulation of 10,000 worldwide corporate and owner titles including hotels, resorts, independents and high-end branded hotels. It will focus on the protocols, properties and personalities in the market, the needs of those owning and operating such facilities and how to achieve success. The title’s Web site has already launched at www.luxuryhotelier.com.
“There’s a lot of activity in terms of events, such as Hotel World on Sept. 18, that will provide us with good distribution,” Mr. McMahon said. “We wanted to launch the magazine around that event.”
Luxury Hotelier is part of Questex’s Hotel World Network, which provides access and opportunity in all facets of the hotel and lodging industry. Sister publications include Hotel & Motel Management and Hotel Design.
“Recipients have been handpicked over years, and we are comfortable with who will get it,” Mr. McMahon said. “We had to really go through a qualification process to determine who should receive it.”
Questex manages travel industry publications and trade shows including Premier Hotels & Resorts, Luxury Travel Advisor and Travel Agent magazines and Luxury Travel Expo and Incentive Travel Exchange.
“What’s interesting about the hotel community, from the Super 8s to the Four Seasons, is that it is the same industry, but they have very little in common,” Mr. McMahon said. “We found through research that high-ends don’t want to open a publication talking about Best Westerns and Sheratons.”
The magazine has been marketing itself through HTML e-mail blasts and direct mail. It also will attend the U.S. Lodging and Investment conference. The publication is using a revenue-based ad model. It did not disclose potential and solidified advertisers.
“I want the reader to take away an understanding for the luxury hotel market, because clearly it has depth and personality,” Mr. McMahon said. “The luxury hotel industry is not a cookie-cutter industry, for you constantly need to be creative and produce new ideas, so it is important to see what everyone else in the industry is doing.”