No justification for Chesterfication

Can there be any justification for misleading the public about your location. We have seen properties in our area advertised as West Cheshire to try to sell them to incomers, now hotels are jumping on the band wagon.

Flintshire Chronicle 21st Jan 2010

Plans to expand a North Wales hotel have been approved by Flintshire County Council
A FLINTSHIRE hotel has had a planning application to build a two storey extension and separate three storey residential block with 33 new apartments, approved by the county council.
Days Hotel Chester North, formerly named the Gateway to Wales Hotel on Welsh Road, say the new build will provide more jobs for people in Garden City.
However, local councillors are more concerned that the name of the hotel, which was renamed a few weeks ago, has disassociated itself from its Welsh location.
“Why is it called Chester North?” said Cllr Neville Phillips at a planning meeting.
“It’s in Flintshire and on Welsh Road, you can’t get more Welsh, you might as well call it Days Hotel, Shotton East.
“They’re obviously trying to ride the coattails of Chester and completely disassociate themselves from Flintshire.
“It’s insulting to the people of Flintshire and Sealand, to see it called a Chester hotel; it’s unacceptable.”
Plaid Cymru candidate for the Alyn and Deeside constituency Maurice Jones, agreed adding: “This isn’t the first company in Flintshire to mislead the public. “The Holiday Inn calls itself Chester West, despite being between Ewloe and Northop.
“Are they ashamed to be in Wales?
“The Gateway to Wales was able to market itself using the dragon on the bridge and companies coming to Wales should recognise where they are located.”
Matt Knight, manager of the hotel, said: “We are delighted to have changed the hotel to Days Hotel Chester North, it is a real coup for Sanguine Hospitality who own the hotel to have been approached by the largest hotel group in the world, Wyndham Hotels, to re-brand as a Days Hotel.
Wyndham sees the Deeside area as an area that a large company should have a presence and we are pleased that they have chosen The Gateway to Wales as the location for their project.
“Part of our requirements was that we kept our link with the hotel’s name and were able to keep The Gateway to Wales as the name for the hotel’s leisure club.
“We’re a big part of the local community and fully understand people’s links with the hotel.
“However, to compete in national and international markets, people feel more comfortable booking their stay in a branded property and this has been evident in the short time we have been a Days Hotel.
“We have seen a large increase in business travellers from Japan, USA and Europe.
“We aim to start work later in the year on the extra rooms, which will provide up to 15 new jobs in all areas of the hotel.
Since the hotel was refurbished back in 2008, the hotel has continued to grow significantly, through a tough trading period and this is testament to the loyal and dedicated staff we have at the hotel.

While it is important to sell hotels on convenience for Chester and Wales, misrepresenting locations is unacceptable. It must be possible for marketing departments to come up with ways of selling these hotels without misrepresenting them. I think this may be a case for Flintshire trading standards.