.kerryhotels Domain

THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .KERRYHOTELS gTLD IS TO BENEFIT INTERNET USERS BY ENSURING INCREASED TRUST, CONFIDENCE AND UTILITY THROUGH THE ELIMINATION OF USER CONFUSION AND ASSURANCE OF BRAND AUTHENTICITY.

The new .kerryhotels gTLD will operate as a restricted registry, in which Kerry Trading Co. Limited (Kerry Trading) can create and control domain spaces that promote its Kerry Hotel brand. In this regard, .kerryhotels will be used by Kerry Trading to provide information, services and resources to customers of Kerry Hotels in a way that promotes trust, convenience and utility. The .kerryhotels gTLD will provide an authoritative internet space for Kerry Trading, its affiliates, associated companies and partners that are associated with the brand. Second and third level domains can then be utilised for marketing and customer engagement purposes to promote Kerry Hotels, with internet users assured of brand authenticity.

The applicant, Kerry Trading, is established and based in Hong Kong and operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary to Kerry Group Limited (Kerry Group). Kerry Group engages in the hotel, real estate, media, commodities, logistics and industrial manufacturing businesses throughout the world with major operations in Hong Kong, China and Southeast Asia. The name "Kerry" has become identified with the brand's operations in Asia for almost 40 years.

Kerry Hotels was launched by Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited (Shangri-La International) in 2011. Shangri-La International, an associated company of Kerry Trading, operates and/or manages five-star hotels and resorts located in premier addresses across the world. Kerry Hotel in Pudong, Shanghai and Beijing together offers in excess of 1,000 guestrooms with the most advanced conference, banqueting and hotel-based fitness facilities in the respective regions.

In this regard, building consumer trust, continuous innovation and protection of the Kerry Hotels brand are paramount considerations for Kerry Trading. The.kerryhotels gTLD will promote the Kerry Hotels brand and strengthen Kerry Hotels' online presence. These objectives will be further complemented by Kerry Trading's application for "Kerry Hotels" in Chinese Internationalized Domain Name (IDN).

Business activities are increasingly conducted over the internet, allowing for greater levels of interaction between businesses and customers. As a result, both businesses and end users benefit from ease of interaction and a wider range of choices with lower transaction costs. However, the development in this arena in the current domain name system has exposed both businesses and consumers to increased criminal activities over the internet, including data breach, hacking and phishing. These sophisticated criminal activities cause reputational damage to businesses as internet users lose consumer confidence and trust with the businesses targeted by such criminal activities..kerryhotels will facilitate greater trust and assurance from internet users connecting with Kerry Trading and Kerry Hotels online, whilst still allowing convenient and efficient interaction.

Kerry Trading's mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest. Kerry Trading is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN's Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:

- consumer trust: the .kerryhotels gTLD registry will be operated in a centralised manner with a restrictive registration policy. Registration of domain names will only be available to Kerry Trading and its affiliates and associated companies in connection with the operation of Kerry Hotels, at this stage, which will provide added consumer trust that .kerryhotels domain names are trustworthy. As .kerryhotels domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Kerry Trading's control, this eliminates the possibility of malicious conduct within the .kerryhotels domain space;

- competition: .kerryhotels is not intended to instigate competition and consumer choice at the level of registration of domain names among prospective registrants. Instead it is anticipated to contribute to ICANN's initiatives to promote public interest through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust. Increased trust in .kerryhotels will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to improve consumer trust of their TLDs;

- consumer choice: .kerryhotels will enable user-driven improvements and innovations assisting Kerry Trading and Shangri-La International's marketing efforts through its ability to create new second and third level domain names on demand relevant to its Kerry Hotels brand. These names will provide the consumers with more choices for interacting with Kerry Trading and Kerry Hotels online. As Kerry Trading has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under .kerryhotels, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.

Given the restricted nature of .kerryhotels, the projected number of registration is likely to be limited. It is anticipated that around 10 domain names will be registered in the first few years. However, the number of registrations is likely to increase as the number of Kerry Hotels increases and Kerry Trading develops and implements new services and marketing campaigns in connection with its Kerry Hotels brand.

As the .kerryhotels gTLD expands and evolves, Kerry Trading will continue to comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet. Kerry Trading will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .kerryhotels including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.

Kerry Trading intends to create relevant domain names for use including product, services or geographic names in the second or third level domain names. In accordance with registration policy and the proposed measures for protection of geographic names as outlined in response to Question 22, Kerry Trading will use geographic names to localise its websites in countries or regions in which Kerry Hotels operate. The use of geographic names is intended to:
- connect internet users with relevant information as applicable to the territory;
- comply with required rules and regulations in the national territory.

Kerry Trading is part of a well-recognised global brand with its trademarks "KERRY" registered in 26 countries and territories and "嘉里" ("KERRY" in Chinese) registered in 14 countries and territories by Kuok Registrations Ltd (Kuok Registrations), an affiliate of Kerry Trading, for various categories including: Hotels and restaurants (Class 43). Kuok Registrations will be filing trademark applications for "KERRY HOTELS" in 72 countries and territories and "嘉里大酒店"("Kerry Hotels" in Chinese) in 6 countries and territories for the following categories: Advertising and business (Class 35); Hotels and restaurants (Class 43); Medical, beauty and agricultural (Class 44).

Kerry Trading has 2 existing domain names with an exact match to the applied-for string .kerryhotels in thekerryhotels.com and thekerryhotel.com. Further, Kerry Trading has 2 domain names with an exact match to the Chinese equivalent of the applied-for string in 嘉里大酒店.公司 (IDN.com) and 嘉里大酒店.中國 (IDN.cn).

Kerry Trading believes that .kerryhotels is unlikely to cause confusion with either a generic term or any existing TLDs. The "KERRY" trademarks are a leading global brand with significant reputation in Asia. Kerry Hotels along with the Shangri-La brand has a strong reputation in countries all around the world.×