Mobil Travel Guide and Forbes Media LLC announced today that Mobil Travel Guide will become Forbes Travel Guide effective October 1, 2009. This exclusive licensing agreement between two industry leaders with more than 140 yearsโ combined experience, transfers the hospitality industryโs premier star rating and travel guide brand from ExxonMobil to Forbes.
In addition, the Mobil Four and Five Star Award designation will transition into the new โForbes Four and Five Star Awardโ designation for hotels, restaurants, and spas beginning with the 2010 ratings announcements.
โThe Forbes brand will continue the tradition of identifying and defining excellence in the travel space through the time honored Hotel, Restaurant and Spa Five Star Rating system that Mobil Travel Guide pioneered over 51 years ago,โ said Shane OโFlaherty, president and CEO of Mobil Travel Guide. โWe are committed to the same rigor and discipline of the inspections and ratings process as we have for the past five decades well into the future.โ
โFor more than 90 years, Forbes has been the authoritative source for business and wealth coverage. Coupling Forbesโ trusted luxury brand with Mobil Travel Guideโs respected stance in the travel arena was a natural fit. The partnership will vastly expand Forbesโ presence in the consumer travel industry while upholding the credibility and excellence of the Star Rating System,โ said Miguel Forbes, president of television and licensing.
Forbes Travel Guide is poised to become the premier resource for travel information through its re-launched guide series and its new website, to be revealed in 2010. The guide will continue its exhaustive ratings and inspections process this year, culminating with its 52nd Annual Five Star announcements, which will be revealed in November 2009.
โThis partnership clearly benefits both the consumer and the hospitality industry by globally expanding our star ratings, content offerings, and our ability to drive awareness of information that enables consumers to make better-informed travel decisions via the web,โ said Jeff Arnold, chairman of Mobil Travel Guide.