“The leisure market is consistently growing,” said King. “Asian tourism is growing. If you're not investing appropriately in branding, you will become obsolete. You need a big, stable brand to satisfy customers.”

Schwartz concurred saying, “Evolution in branding means maintaining relevancy while maintaining your product.”

“But,” said Pohl, “you need to watch for overlap and cannibalization.”

Trivedi agreed with that assessment adding, “A piece of a pie can get smaller and smaller. Many brands have been launched, but can quickly reach critical mass. How they are segmented needs to be watched. We need to be careful. Critical mass means consumers should know what brand you're talking about.”

Regarding soft brands, there was mutual agreement that they meet the complicated needs of the best of both worlds.

“Boutique space has been some of our fastest-growing space ever,” said King. “We don't to take away the independence of their brand; we want to help them market their brand.”

“Europe has some phenomenal independent assets that are known by reputation alone. There is an unmet market for that in the US,” said Pohl. “But big brands have the resources that soft brands do not.”

Regarding the European assets, Schwartz added, “Traditional brands have to reinvent themselves, like reactivating their lobbies. The ones that don't tend to go away.”

Franchisee involvement was a major point of discussion.

“We need to be involved in the early stages of franshisees' ideas,” said Pohl. “We need to see what works as people are trying to work around brands. You have to be bold enough to challenge these ideas. Once all the questions are answered, our job is to go out there and execute.”

“We must deliver a premium with the brand,” said King. “Can you deliver flawlessly? Is there a return for the owner? These are the questions I am constantly asking myself.”

Trivedi said the key is owner involvement and that it is brand responsibility that helps them get where they need to be. “The good brands have to listen to their franchises. Owners and operators are on the front line; they know what's going on,” he said.

“Innovation starts at the grass roots level,” said Schwarz. “Those brands that allow that information to flow are successful.”