A tried and true travel guide is getting a major overhaul: starting in October, Mobil Travel Guides will be known as Forbes Travel Guides. The exclusive licensing agreement also means that the Mobil Four and Five Star Award designation for hotels, restaurants and spas will go by the new name of Forbes Four and Five Star Award, beginning with the 2010 ratings announcements.
Miguel Forbes, president of TV and licensing for the company, called the matching of Forbes’s luxury brand with Mobil’s “respected stance in the travel arena” “a natural fit,” and noted that the partnership “will expand Forbes’s presence in the consumer travel industry,” where Mobil has had a presence for more than 50 years. Jeff Arnold, chairman of Mobil Travel Guides, said the partnership will help both consumers and the hospitality industry because it will “globally [expand] 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.”
Forbes will relaunch its newly named series and Web site next year; the guide’s 52nd annual Five Star announcements will be revealed in November.
