The hotel industry, in particular, and all businesses whose service depend on building long
term relationship need to concentrate on maintaining customer’s loyalty. To achieve a
sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace, one has to value the importance of
building, using and maintaining brands. For this reason, academics and practitioners have
studied the concept and measurement of brand equity for more than a decade (Kim, Kim &
An, 2003). Prasad and Dev (2000) are of the opinion that branding is an effective method for
hotels and hotel chains to identify and distinguish themselves from competitors in the mind of
the customer. The hotel industry isn’t a new vertical for Pakistan by any measure. The 2008
World Economic forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report (TTCR) ranked
Pakistan 103 out of 124 countries to visit; which predicted a gloomy picture for hotels as
well; which mainly depends on tourism in Pakistan.