Originally Posted by
hockeyinsider
It would be much easier if Marriott managed most of its properties or, at least, most of its full-service properties, but it doesn't. The vast majority of Marriott's properties across all brands are managed by third parties. This makes quality control, brand compliance, loyalty program compliance -- whatever you want to call it -- more difficult.
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I am not sure I fully agree with this, the model you describe above is pretty much how all the hotel companies operate now and it is simply a question of how well Marriott hold those hotels to account. So far my feeling is SPG did it far better than Marriott and Marriott has decided that it wishes to treat the owners as the number 1 rather than the guests of the hotels. There is some logic in this as it makes it more appealing for hotel owners to sign for Marriott but personally I see it as a very short term quick profits option for Marriott. The reason Marriott bought Starwood was because it envied how loyal its customer base was, it is now proceeding to alienate that customer base and drive them elsewhere. I have a great ambassador so I am lucky but overall I find Marriott a very arrogant company and not one I see myself staying with much long term unless there is some serious change from the top down!