I don't know about the exact level of Marriott vs. Non-Marriott management, however, I do have some relevant information.

In his book, Spirit to Serve, 1997, JW Marriott Jr. claims that of 1,500 hotels in the system at that point, Marriott owned exactly 6 outright. No mention was made of how many they had shares in, or average share levels. As far as I know, the ownership levels haven't changed much.

It did also say the primary Marriott Hotel format was: An individual or group of enterprenuers or industrialists would want to build a hotel. Marriott would be contracted to design the hotel (and participate in its construction). Then, the individual or group would hire Marriott to provide its "hotel management expertise", on what I assumed was a consulting basis.

The book went into lengthy explanation about how Marriott's attention to details and having standards on the "way things were done", and how this provided a minimum acceptable standard of expectations from guests, "allowed Marriott to grow into what it is today", or words close to that effect. Personally, I think the book gushed a bit much on these issues. Somehow I don't think Bill really knows what's going on out there today.

I've heard some interesting stories recently about the Marriott Rewards program that relates to how how proudly Bill describes, in his book, Marriott's apparently much-praised "standards".

Apparently, as recently as 1990, awards weren't printed in batches by large printers like they are today. Individual MR reps, sitting at their desks, personally and manually typed up Awards on typewriters!

I get the feeling the MR program was started on a wing, a prayer, and a shoe-string budget; and not a lot of thought or design ever went into its procedures or computer systems. Until recently, you couldn't even get statements going back more than 18 months, and even getting that was like pulling teeth. Stays wind up getting missed a lot, and there are a multitude of reasons why other than forgetting to use your name and account number.

This sort of thing tends also to show up in the level of "MR" training found at the hotels, which varies wildly, but usually is not what you could describe as "high" in most locations.