Protect the Name Guests Book
Hotel, resort, and spa brands live on booking sites, in franchise and management agreements, and in guests' memories. We register lodging brands, support franchise and management deals, and act against booking-site and domain abuse.
What hotel and resort brands run into
Miami Beach and South Florida's hotel market, with its boutique and branded properties, makes lodging names and booking fraud constant issues.
Hotel and resort names
Lodging names are often geographic or descriptive, and many are already registered.
Federal Trademark Applications →Problem 2Franchise and management agreements
Brand owners, owners of the property, and managers each need clear rights to the name.
Federal Trademark Applications →Problem 3Booking-site and domain abuse
Look-alike domains and fake booking pages divert guests and payments.
Domain Name Disputes (UDRP) →Problem 4Unfair competition
Competitors that imply an affiliation or use a hotel's name in ads may engage in unfair competition.
Florida Unfair Competition →Grupo Xcaret: registering the hotel brands and stopping look-alike booking sites
Grupo Xcaret operates parks, tours, and resort hotels in Mexico's Riviera Maya, including Hotel Xcaret México, Hotel Xcaret Arte, and La Casa de la Playa. Many of its guests book from the United States. Our hotel trademark protection team, led by Melissa Dangond, prepared and filed the group's core U.S. hotel and attraction marks and brought it to registration, and our litigators enforced the brands in the Southern District of Florida against booking sites that imitated the hotels' own.
U.S. registrations prepared and filed by our team
All filed between November and December 2024. Click a number for the USPTO record.
| Mark | Reg. no. | Class | Filed | Registered | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XCARET | 8156207 | 43 | Nov. 4, 2024 | Mar. 3, 2026 | Promotora Xcaret |
| HOTEL XCARET MEXICO | 8164561 | 43 | Dec. 16, 2024 | Mar. 10, 2026 | Destino Xcaret |
| HOTEL XCARET ARTE | 8164560 | 43 | Dec. 16, 2024 | Mar. 10, 2026 | Destino Xcaret |
| LA CASA DE LA PLAYA | 8082832 | 43 | Dec. 16, 2024 | Dec. 30, 2025 | Destino Xcaret |
| XOXIMILCO MEXICAN FLOATING FIESTA CANCÚN | 8046487 | 41 | Dec. 16, 2024 | Dec. 2, 2025 | Promotora Xcaret |
| XCARET XAILING | 8156288 | 39, 41 | Dec. 16, 2024 | Mar. 3, 2026 | Promotora Xcaret |
| X GRUPO XCARET | 8525197 | 41, 43 | Dec. 30, 2024 | Oct. 27, 2026 | Promotora Xcaret |
Earlier applications for HOTEL XCARET MEXICO (2019) and HOTEL XCARET ARTE (2021), filed on an intent-to-use basis, did not mature to registration. Refiled in December 2024 on the basis of the hotels' actual use, both registered on March 10, 2026.
Enforcing the brand against counterfeit booking systems
- 2018–2022●
Look-alike domains such as hotelxcaretresort.com, hotelxcaretarteresort.com, and lacasadelaplayaresort.com send travelers searching for the hotels to a third-party booking platform instead of the hotels' own sites.
- May 11, 2022★
Federal complaint filed in the Southern District of Florida by Grupo Experiencias Xcaret and affiliated companies, for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and cybersquatting.
- Result●
The litigation succeeded in protecting the hotels' brands and their direct-booking channel.
Grupo Experiencias Xcaret, S.A.P.I. de C.V. v. Vacation Tours, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-21455 (S.D. Fla.).
Why booking-site impersonation matters for hotels
- Lost direct bookings. A guest who searches for the hotel and lands on a look-alike site books through a third party, at a different price and without the hotel's terms.
- Guest confusion and complaints. Reservations made through an imitation site often arrive wrong or not at all, and the guest blames the hotel.
- Registration first. U.S. registrations for each hotel name make infringement and cybersquatting claims faster and stronger, and support UDRP complaints and platform takedowns.
- Cybersquatting remedies. The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act allows transfer of bad-faith domains and statutory damages of up to $100,000 per domain name.
Status from USPTO records as of October 28, 2026. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Featured with the client's permission.
What we recommend for hotel and resort brands
Our five most important steps for protecting a brand in this industry, in the order most clients need them.
Pair a distinctive name with the location
Use a distinctive brand with the location as a secondary element, such as BRAND South Beach.
Register services and amenities
Cover hotel, restaurant, bar, spa, and event services, and the branded goods sold in the gift shop.
Keep ownership with the brand owner
The brand owner, not the property owner or manager, should own the marks and license them.
Protect the direct-booking channel
Register domains, monitor look-alikes, and use UDRP complaints against fake booking sites.
Plan for rebranding
Agreements should cover signage, domains, and listings when a property leaves the brand.
Hotel and resort brand filings at the USPTO, 2021 to 2026
Applicants filed 11,365 U.S. trademark applications in this category from 2021 to 2025, and filings in 2025 were up 14% from 2021. 13,997 live registrations cover it today.
Applications filed per year
U.S. applications by filing date. The 2026 bar covers January to late October.
View data table
| Year | Applications filed | Registered to date | Abandoned | Registrations issued that year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,084 | 1,148 | 854 | 981 |
| 2022 | 2,256 | 1,142 | 905 | 904 |
| 2023 | 2,352 | 1,194 | 739 | 991 |
| 2024 | 2,289 | 1,032 | 608 | 1,402 |
| 2025 | 2,384 | 794 | 366 | 1,372 |
| 2026 (Jan.–Oct.) | 1,921 | 96 | 47 | 1,389 |
Applications filed and registrations issued
Applications by filing year, and registrations by the year they issued.
What happened to each year's applications
Status today of applications filed each year. Recent years are still largely pending.
How we counted. USPTO trademark records, retrieved October 28, 2026. The USPTO does not classify filings by industry, so this page counts: Applications in Class 43 whose services mention hotels or resorts. An application is counted once even if it names several qualifying classes.
Top five trademark registrants: Hotels & Resorts
The owners that received the most U.S. registrations in this category since January 2021. Pet hotels and boarding services are also registered as hotel services, which is why a pet business appears.
U.S. registrations issued since January 2021, by owner
Registrations issued January 2021 to October 2026 in the category described in the data section, by current owner.
View data table
| Rank | Owner | Registrations since 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hilton International Holding LLC | 48 |
| 2 | Marriott International, Inc. | 37 |
| 3 | Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, LLC | 32 |
| 4 | Choice Hotels International, Inc. | 31 |
| 5 | Woof Gang Bakery, Inc. | 28 |
Counts every registration in the category by its current owner, excluding broad filings that name more than six classes. Listed for information only. These companies are not clients of the firm, and their inclusion implies no affiliation.
What the law says
- Hotel services are in Class 43, spa services in Class 44, and branded goods such as toiletries and robes in their own classes.
- A geographic hotel name, such as one built from a beach or neighborhood, is refused as descriptive unless it has acquired distinctiveness or is combined with a distinctive term.
- Franchise and management agreements should state that the brand owner owns all goodwill and controls the quality of services.
Start here: a checklist for a new brand
Your checks are not saved.
Who does what for your brand
A licensed attorney is responsible for each matter, supported by paralegals and docketing staff who manage documents, deadlines, and monitoring.
Attorneys
Strategy, filings, and enforcement.
- Clearance searches and written risk opinions
- Applications drafted for hotel and resort goods and services
- Responses to USPTO refusals and oppositions
- Demand letters, licenses, and litigation
Paralegals and docketing
Files complete and deadlines met.
- Specimens, dates of use, and evidence
- Docketing of every USPTO and renewal deadline
- U.S. Customs recordation and Amazon Brand Registry
- Watch notices for new conflicting filings
Client service
Clear, bilingual, and easy to reach.
- Service in English and Spanish
- Copies of every USPTO notice, explained
- A written estimate before each filing
- Renewal reminders well in advance
Frequently asked questions
Can I trademark my hotel's name?
Yes, if it is distinctive. Purely geographic or descriptive names are refused unless they have acquired distinctiveness.
Who owns the hotel name, the owner or the brand?
Whoever the agreements say. Usually the brand owner licenses the name to the property.
How do I stop fake booking sites?
UDRP complaints transfer bad-faith domains, and unfair-competition claims address other impersonation.
Should my restaurant and spa have their own marks?
If they are marketed separately or may be licensed elsewhere, yes.
Do I need to protect my hotel brand abroad?
If you market to foreign guests or plan properties abroad, file in those countries.
What happens to the name when a property leaves the brand?
The agreement should require removal of signage, listings, and domains.
Talk to us about your hotel and resort brand
Tell us your brand, what you sell, and where. We will check the register, recommend the right filings, and give you a written estimate.
- Clearance searches
- Federal and Florida filings
- Enforcement and litigation
- Customs and marketplace protection