While brand extensions have been widely practiced in contemporary business marketing and management, empirical rather than hypothetical examinations of extended branding in the hospitality sector are still scant. This study responds to current research gap by comprehensively modeling and assessing the effectiveness of brand extensions of a high-end automobile brand into full scale restaurant services. Brand fit is constructed as the mediator between the extended brand and the high-end parent brand. Data were gathered from 258 patrons at one ‘Mercedes me’ restaurant in east China. Research findings from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that brand quality, brand fit, brand satisfaction and brand loyalty were positively related to each other for the restaurant brand of the high-end auto maker. The interrelationship between brand quality and brand satisfaction of the extended brand was significantly mediated by its brand fit with the parent high-end auto brand modeling. This study contributes to knowledge enrichment on the mechanism of brand extensions and their effects on the equities of both the extended brand and the parent brand in the hospitality sector.

尽管品牌扩展在当代商业营销和管理中已得到广泛实践，但在酒店业对扩展品牌的实证检验（而非假设检验）仍然很少。这项研究通过全面建模和评估高端汽车品牌将品牌扩展到全方位餐厅服务的有效性来弥补当前的研究空白。品牌契合度是扩展品牌和高端母品牌之间的中介。数据是从华东地区一家“ Mercedes me”餐厅的258位顾客收集的。结构方程模型（SEM）的研究结果表明，高端汽车制造商的餐厅品牌的品牌质量，品牌契合度，品牌满意度和品牌忠诚度正相关。扩展品牌的品牌质量和品牌满意度之间的相互关系在很大程度上取决于其与母公司高端汽车品牌建模的品牌契合度。这项研究有助于丰富关于品牌扩展机制及其对酒店行业中扩展品牌和母品牌资产的影响的知识。