Originally Posted by
Horace
Before Marriott launched Courtyard by Marriott in 1982, Marriott had just a single brand.
If Marriott were designing a brand strategy from scratch, it's very unlikely that there would be 30 brands, with significant overlap between some brands. But that's what Marriott has after acquiring Starwood. In a few years, Marriott will probably have more brands, not fewer brands.
There was a time when a typical full-service Marriott Hotel had a casual restaurant, a separate fine dining restaurant, and a separate cocktail lounge. (In fact, that seemed to be part of the definition of "full service.") Now, there's often just single food-and-drinks area, with a bar as its central focus.
What the Doubletree brand (Hilton) and Delta Hotels brand (Marriott) have in common is that they're both full-service conversion brands, not necessarily that their physical or operational standards are the same.
I agree that the web content on Marriott.com for the Delta Hotels Racine property is currently a mess. The photos are old. The logo does not match the hotel name. There's not even a warning that the hotel is under construction.
I assume that when its renovation is complete, the Delta Hotels Racine will replace its web content on Marriott.com with new photos, new descriptions, and proper branding.
We're starting to go off-topic. Maybe moderators should create a thread to track property conversions from Marriott brands or non-Marriott brands to Delta.
So basically Delta will become a dumping ground for older hotels that may have been renovated to have new bathrooms and rooms, but otherwise can't up their game to meet new brand standards.
At the same time, you have a gorgeous new-build Delta in Baltimore (
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...-inner-harbor/) or the wonderful new flagship Marriott in Buffalo (
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...town-marriott/) and tired, old 2 1/2-star (maybe 3-star) Marriott hotels in places like Southfield, Livonia, and Auburn Hills that only exist because of one-time corporate contracts -- to say nothing of the ancient Marriott in Arlington/Key Bridge. You can only renovate so much. In some of these places, nobody is going to eat at the hotel, regardless of the number of food-and-beverage outlets, because there are better choices nearby.
Sadly, corporate Marriott seems to think quantity is more important than quality. Hopefully, they'll take the oldest and worst Marriott and Sheraton properties and re-flag or de-flag.
IHG was smart several years ago when it yanked the Holiday Inn flag from something like 300 of its then 2,700 hotels (see,
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001...31630528094524). I used to tell Intercontinental general managers that being affiliated with Holiday Inn hurt them. Now, I think Crowne Plaza is having the same problem. It is trying to reinvent itself, judging from its new advertising campaigns and the fact that a few properties have left (like the horrible now-former Crowne Plaza in Novi for Four Points by Sheraton). Best Western also booted out hotels.
Around me, many of these tired, old hotels -- some of the now-former Holiday Inn properties remain full-service hotels -- are now with Ramada Inn, Quality Inn or Magnuson. Some of them are just downright awful, but that's what 12 years of a bad economy in Michigan will do. Then there are owners just milking a hotel for cash flow.