The rebranding of the group's flagship hotel reflects increased confidence in the Meritus name to take the group into the future.
Meritus Hotel & Resorts - the hotel management company of Singapore's Overseas Union Enterprises -manages 13 hotels in Singapore, Malaysia and China.
To date, six of its properties have taken the Meritus name, although the Marina Mandarin has adopted the logo but not the name.
The new visual identity replaces the gold logo with the tall emperor hat - which had been synonymous with the Mandarin Singapore - with the bold red and black Meritus logo. The latter is shaped to look like a Chinese hat instead.
Meritus is Latin for "deserving of merit".
The group said the new name and visual identity with its Chinese-style headgear reflected qualities of excellence and worth.
Michael Ow, president of Meritus Hotels & Resorts, said: "It is understandable why the Meritus brand has remained relatively low profile so far when you consider the long-standing history and popularity of our flagship, the Mandarin Singapore for over 30 years."
Although Meritus has been identified as the brand to take the group into the future, the company could not ignore the goodwill that the Mandarin brand had acquired.
However, extensive use of the Mandarin name by competing hotel operators had made it difficult for the company to retain the name for future expansion.
"There are several companies that own the Mandarin name in different countries. Taipei has a Mandarin, Penang used to have one, Kuala Lumpur has a two-star Mandarin and Bangkok too," said Ow.
"The younger generation (in Singapore) does not relate to the Mandarin name and do not realise we have modernised. We want to project a new, on-the-go image," he added.
The 1,200-room Meritus Mandarin Singapore has just undergone a S$52 million (US$29 million) renovation on its Grand Tower, covering rooms, banquet and convention facilities and lifts.
Refurbishment of the South Tower and the main entrance are in the pipeline.
