Preferred Hotels & Resorts

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Preferred Hotels & Resorts

Company type	Private
Industry	Hospitality
Founded	1968 (1968)
Headquarters	Newport Beach, CA , United States
Number of locations	Nearly 40
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	John Ueberroth (Executive Chairman) Gail Ueberroth (Chief Creative Officer & Vice-Chairman) Lindsey Ueberroth (CEO) Casey Ueberroth (Member of the Board of Directors)
Services	sales, marketing, distribution, quality assurance, and technology solutions[buzzword]
Owner	John Ueberroth Gail Ueberroth Lindsey Ueberroth Casey Ueberroth
Number of employees	300+[1]
Website	preferredhotels.com

Preferred Hotels & Resorts is a hotel chain that represents more than 650 independent hotels, resorts, and residences, across 85 countries. The company's corporate headquarters is in Newport Beach, California. It does not own, operate, or manage any of the hotels. All of the hotels, resorts, and serviced residences in the company's portfolio are independent entities.^[2]

Preferred Hotels & Resorts was founded by 12 North American hoteliers in 1968, originating as a referral organization for hotels.^[3]

In 1981, the association rebranded under the name Preferred Hotels Worldwide, and ended the personal referral system previously used for membership. The 1990s saw increased transformation as Preferred Hotels Association became a for-profit stock corporation. During this decade, the company also developed a 1,600-point inspection used to determine a hotel’s muster for inclusion in the group. Further advancements were made in the company’s electronic distribution platform, and Preferred opened its first international sales offices. In 2000, the company created a new holding company called IndeCorp (Independent Hotel Corporation).^[4]

In 2004, John Ueberroth became the largest shareholder of IndeCorp and was named CEO and chairman, along with his wife Gail Ueberroth as vice chairman and his daughter Lindsey Ueberroth as executive vice president.^[5] (Ueberroth was a travel industry executive who had previously been a major shareholder of the Ambassadors International travel company together with his brother, former Commissioner of Baseball Peter Ueberroth.^[6][7]) By 2005, Casey Ueberroth had also joined the family business as a managing director for the western United States. That same year, the company decided that the IndeCorp name was lacking a connection to its business,^[8] and changed its name to Preferred Hotel Group.^[9] In 2014, the company entered its 10th year as a privately owned family business, implementing a succession plan with Lindsey Ueberroth as president and CEO,^[10] John Ueberroth as chairman, Gail Ueberroth as vice chairman and Casey Ueberroth as chief marketing officer.^[11][12] In March 2015, the company rebranded, with five distinct hotel collections: Legend, LVX, Lifestyle, Connect, and Preferred Residences.

In 2005, Preferred introduced its Preferred Boutique brand, the first major initiative led by Lindsey Ueberroth. One year later, Preferred introduced a guest benefit program called 'I Prefer' that was implemented across all of its brands.

In 2014, the company entered its 10th year as a privately owned family business, implementing a succession plan with Lindsey Ueberroth as president and CEO,^[10] John Ueberroth as chairman, Gail Ueberroth as vice chairman and Casey Ueberroth as chief marketing officer.^[11][12]

Preferred Hotels & Resorts is managed by parent company Preferred Hotel Group, Inc., which also manages Historic Hotels of America, Historic Hotels Worldwide, PHG Consulting, and Beyond Green Travel.