Leela Hotels riding on Taj brand – Case of Brand Name Misuse on Google Search

Can Advertisers Use Google Ad Words Any Way They Want?

Internet is the marketing medium of choice for hospitality industry. Hotels in India are using Google Ad Words extensively. When used properly this medium is highly effective and its impact measurable. But when done improperly it can leave a bad taste on many palates. Campaigns run by many well known hotel brands is a case in point. They are misusing competitions’ brand name – which is, if not outrightly illegal, unethical at the best.

Overview of Hotel Industry Ads on Google

Hospitality sector is using Internet Marketing extensively – from traditional SEO, SEM, and banner ads to social media marketing and engagement every method is being used. But no where are the stakes higher than in the luxury hotel business. When the cost of one night’s stay upwards of Rs 20,000 ($ 500) and the marginal cost of offering the service is very low stakes are bound to run high. Internet marketing also allows hotels to bypass travel agents and save commission cost. The luxury hotel chains extensively using Google Ad Words are

1. The Taj Group of Hotels
2. The Leela Group of Hotels
3. The Lalit Group of Hotels
4. Oberoi Hotels

What is Wrong?

When any company/ ad agency runs search engine marketing campaign (SEM) it has to first select a list of keywords. A hotel in Delhi can choose “Delhi Hotels” as a keyword. The customer will see the advertisement along with search engine results when she searches for any combination of queries which has the keyword “Delhi Hotels” in it. This means the advertisement will be visible for keywords like

1. Delhi Hotels
2. Luxury Delhi Hotels
3. Delhi Luxury Hotels
4. Cheap Delhi hotels

Now a brand like Taj Hotels will not like to associate itself with “Cheap” (which they are doing as of now), this shows big brands like Taj is still not able to appreciate brand-protection on Internet.

This brings us to the meat of the issue. Not only are the hotels using generic keywords like “delhi hotels” but they are also specifically targeting brand names of competition. For example when I searched of Taj Hotel Delhi ads of following competitors appeared

1. The Leela
2. ITC Hotels

Obviously The Leela and ITC hotels are trying to encash The Taj Brand Name. The list of culprits is a long one. We analyzed  top 6 hotels to come up with the table below which shows which hotel is plagiarizing other’s brand name on Internet.

Opportunity Lost for Premium Brands

Loser in the game are premium brands like Hotel Taj Mahal Delhi. Across the world (except India) more than 100,000 searches take place across different keywords for Hotel Taj Mahal, New Delhi every month.

Out of these The Leela Hotel appears at position no 1 for more than 6000 searches. If We assume click through rate of 10%, 600 people who where searching for Taj Hotel end up visiting the website of hotel Leela Kempinski. If we further assume 1% of this number actually books a room in Leela we are talking about 100 guests every year who wanted to stay in Taj but ended up staying in Leela. These guests did not experience the Taj hospitality because they were snatched away by competition on Internet. The loss to Taj is more than few tens of lakhs of rupees.

Problem is at both ends, first Taj Group should ensure it’s brand is well protected and secondly Risk management team in Leela should ensure their digital agency is not risking law-suits and brand damage for small gains.