Originally Posted by
iknowthings
There isn't a single person at Marriott that can tell a (franchised) hotel what to do.
That's not true at all. The franchise agreement will absolutely give Marriott the right to control various aspects of the operation.
The current issue with Marriott is that they generally won't enforce Bonvoy program rules against properties. But you better believe that if a property violates other franchise agreement obligations (such as branding or payment of fees) Marriott will come down on them like a ton of bricks.