Wealthy European Consumers Rank Luxury Hotel, Handbag and Fashion Brands; Loro Piana Loved by Women and Men, Hermès Earns Highest Handbag Score

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Nov 2, 2011) - A new series of Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) surveys from the independent and objective New York City-based Luxury Institute reveals firsthand impressions and rankings of dozens of luxury brands by high net-worth consumers from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.

Wealthy European shoppers evaluated each brand on quality, exclusivity, social status and overall ownership experience to tabulate an overall LBSI score. Also considered were price worthiness, willingness to recommend the brand and likelihood of purchase.

Based on overall LBSI scores, the top three luxury brands in each category rank as follows:

• Hotels (26 brands): Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces; Mandarin Oriental; Ritz-Carlton
  
  
• Handbags (39 brands): Hermès; Tod's; Chanel
  
  
• Women's Fashion (44 brands): Loro Piana; Brunello Cucinelli; Hermès
  
  
• Men's Fashion (35 brands): Loro Piana; Michael Kors; Brioni
  
  

Several country-specific preferences are apparent. In Women's Fashion, Italians rank Valentino highest, Germans prefer Louis Vuitton, and Alexander McQueen earns top ranking in the U.K. In hotels, Ritz-Carlton ranks first in France and second in the U.K. behind Mandarin Oriental.

"There is certainly a diversity of taste and preference among wealthy consumers in Europe," says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. "Several brands have succeeded in transcending national boundaries and enjoy wide appeal among the continent's wealthy."

Respondents come from households with minimum annual income of EUR 50,000, or £60,000 in the U.K. For greater details on brand rankings in each category and other purchase considerations of wealthy European consumers, visit LuxuryInstitute.com.

About Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)
The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.