Comments by HOTEL Top-Level-Domain GmbH on the 4th Draft Applicant Guidebook

[Johannes Lenz-Hawliczek <johannes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hotel Top-Level-Domain GmbH welcomes the opportunity to comment on version 4 of 
the Draft Applicant Guidebook, and we thank the ICANN community and ICANN staff 
for having taken the new gTLD process to this stage. We would like to just add 
a few comments to the DAG 4.
 
 
Time frame
 
We and numerous others have said this before: Reliability is essential when 
planning for the future. Hotel associations, chains and individual hotels 
worldwide are looking forward to having their own namespace. We urge ICANN to 
commit to a reliable date for the application period of the next round as soon 
as possible.
 
 
String Contention - Incomplete Applications
 
We believe that the provisions in paragraph 1.1.2.8 (String Contention)
 
"(...) if an application is identified as being part of a contention set, 
string contention resolution procedures will not begin until all applications 
in the contention set have completed all aspects of evaluation, including 
dispute resolution, if applicable."
 
can be used in competing applications (contention sets) to take speculative 
advantage by intentionally causing delays with the help of incomplete 
applications.
 
For this reason we propose to add the following sentence:
 
„Applicants should be given a limited time of max. 4 weeks to provide 
incomplete application parts.“
 
 
Trademark Protection
 
We view strong and viable rights protection mechanisms as a central element of 
trust in the future .hotel namespace and adress this issue in our policies. We 
work in the interest of the global hotel industry and are committed to ensure 
that its needs are adequately adressed. We support the proposed instruments for 
rights protection which are the result of intense discussions within the ICANN 
community. At the same time we also ask ICANN to publish proposals for the 
Trademark Clearinghouse process as soon as possible.
 
 
 
Sincerely
 
Johannes Lenz-Hawliczek
CEO
 
HOTEL Top-Level-Domain GmbH
www.dothotel.com