The Set Hotels builds iconic brand with centralized assets in Canto

The Set is a modern affiliation brand that brings together independent hotels under one global identity. Unlike traditional hotel groups that own and operate properties, The Set supports independently owned hotels under a shared brand umbrella, balancing consistency with each property’s autonomy and character.

Kasia Rudnik, Senior Director of Marketing, leads all marketing efforts across the portfolio and ensures every hotel shows up cohesively under The Set name.

“We’re an affiliation brand, so each hotel has its own independence and branding,” explains Kasia. “Our role is to support them with the buying power of the affiliation. It’s much easier for us to promote locations as The Set than for individual hotels to do it on their own.”

Building a global affiliation brand

That model creates unique operational challenges. Each hotel supplies its own photography and video, often in different formats and quality levels. As more properties joined the collection, so did the volume of assets Kasia’s team had to review, organize, and distribute.

Even simple requests could take hours to track down the right version or confirm whether a file met brand standards. As the brand expanded, having a dependable system to manage approved assets wasn’t just helpful — it became essential.

That’s where Canto plays a critical role, providing the structure needed to move quickly while maintaining brand consistency.

Enter Canto: A centralized brand asset library

To support a growing and increasingly complex portfolio, The Set relies on Canto as a single source of truth for all brand assets, including hotel photography, guidelines, and templates.

Onboarding: Streamlining hotel asset intake

As new hotels join The Set, Kasia’s team needs their content ready quickly for websites, sales materials, and press.

Each property submits photography and video through an Upload Link, where files land directly in Canto. From there, the team reviews and refines the assets, organizing only the approved content into the folders their internal teams use every day. As a result, new hotels can have their full asset library reviewed, organized, and ready for use in just 3–5 days.

“We work with assets provided by the hotels, and in some cases, we enhance them to ensure cohesive brand storytelling,” explains Kasia. “We tidy everything up first, so the team knows the photos they’re using are already brand-approved.”

Beyond initial onboarding, The Set encourages hotels to continue using their Upload Links for ongoing asset sharing. When new photography or video is added, Kasia’s team is notified and can quickly review and publish fresh content without constant back-and-forth.

Governance: Maintaining brand control at scale

Canto also acts as The Set’s foundation for brand governance, keeping all core brand materials in one place so everyone can quickly find the most current resources. “From the brand and team perspective, we use Canto for all our assets, logos, brand guidelines, SOPs, templates, advertising, presentations — everything lives there. It’s our brand Bible.”

Permission settings add another layer of control. Sales and marketing teams can self-serve the assets they need, while the broader library remains structured and protected. “It gives my team easy access, whether they’re creating a landing page or a blog post,” notes Kasia. “They can just grab what they need and get to work.”

The team also uses Canto’s integrations with creative tools, including Canva for quick design work and Photoshop and InDesign for more complex projects.

Distribution: Sharing assets with speed

When it’s time to share content externally, distribution is just as streamlined. The Set’s press portal houses pre-approved photography, logos, videos, and collateral that journalists can access instantly, eliminating the need to manually assemble files. “We receive a lot of press requests, and the portal lets us share content immediately,” says Kasia.

The portal also reinforces the affiliation brand. Even when media contacts focus on one hotel, they’re exposed to the full Set portfolio, thereby increasing visibility across properties. And for more targeted needs, Share Links allow the team to quickly send curated assets to partners and stakeholders.

Results: Managing growth with brand confidence

With Canto, The Set has built a scalable system to support its growing global portfolio. Having assets centralized and brand-approved in Canto has reduced the need for outside creative support and asset rework by 25%. Teams spend less time searching for files or confirming versions, and more time launching campaigns and supporting hotels.

“Canto has saved us a huge amount of time and given us a clear view of our content and brand direction,” says Kasia. “It gives me confidence to know that everything has been properly coordinated and approved.”

New hotels can be onboarded faster, press requests are fulfilled immediately, and teams can confidently pull from a single trusted source.

Looking ahead, Canto remains foundational to The Set’s expansion. “We’re adding new hotels very soon,” Kasia shares. “As an affiliation brand, it gives us access to our hotels’ assets at any time.”