Originally Posted by
EuropeanPete
Their strategy does seem to be just to own as many hotel rooms as possible. With today's focus on shareholders, it makes a certain narrow sense for Marriott simply to aim at being the company one invests in when you want exposure to tourism (primarily US based, obviously).
It can be a big tourism company, but part of that is some semblance of brand consistency, even if that consistency is that a hotel will be a 'unique boutique' like Autograph Collection has. I hate that Marriott has 30 brands, but they really need something for the All-Inclusive umbrella they are going to have, now that they expect to have 30ish all-inclusives by the end of the year (more than Bulgari, Edition, Gaylord, or Design combined) and the press release makes them seem eager to add to that.