Marriott isn’t really a hospitality company any more, it’s a hotel brander. With 30 different brands now tightly maintaining brand standards is very important especially following the merger where the difference between say a Marriott and a Sheraton, or a Renaissance and a Westin can be little more than the guests personal perception. Tightly maintained brand standards are vital to control a difference between these brands that really are tripping over one another.

What I think Marriott fails to recognise is whilst in North America the flagship full service brands, Marriott, Sheraton, Renaissance and Westin hotels have been built to a pretty vanilla 3.5*, outside the US they’re frequently 5*, and hence brand uniformity will either result in cuts internationally or improvements stateside. I guess Marriotts following the cutting route - shock, horror!