Millennium & Copthorne Hotels is launching a new hotel
brand - M Hotel - later this year. The first to be
rebranded will be Copthorne Harbour View Singapore after
completion of its refurbishment, M&C International
senior vice president Roy Tan Hardy said. Other possible M
hotels are Millennium Bailey's in London, Millennium Sydney
and possibly one of the two towers at Singapore's Orchard
Hotel, he said. M would be M&C's third brand name -
Millennium and Copthorne being the other two. M's branding
would be similar to Millennium - the group's four-star
deluxe brand - but targetted at a younger clientele.
M&C has been using the Copthorne name in Singapore as
it has been barred from using Millennium following a suit
by Pontiac Marina, which owns Millenia Singapore. "A lot of
people, whenever they think of Harbour View think of
Dai-Ichi (the previous name) and that evokes images of the
1970s and the related historical baggage," said Tan Hardy.
"It was clear that we needed to establish the identity and
the product. "M is going to represent a new generation of
business hotels with the tagline - everything you want but
nothing you don't need," he said.