SkiAdcock

Hotels come & go for a variety of reasons (across all chains), as has been pointed out in this thread, whether they be top of the line or limited service. That's been true in the past, the present, & the future (w/ a nod to Charles Dickens ). But the bloggers appreciate you all clicking on their links after they picked this up from FT

Cheers.

MSPeconomist

C17PSGR

I haven't stayed there so I can't comment on the property, But, a Sheraton property in a good location in Eastern Europe in a city without much Marriott competition going from Marriott to Radisson suggests to me a standards issue. It's expensive to upgrade bathrooms, mattresses, TV's, etc. but all those require updating to meet Marriott standards. Rather than incur that cost, they may just have decided to reflag as a Radisson at the expiration of their agreement.

Each of these hotels has their own story. For example, a property like the St.R Princeville might not like the cost of free nights or breakfasts and decide they'd rather stay independent or ... at least, take some time to think about it while they are renovating.

Horace

This is not simply a case of the former Sheraton Prague Charles Square Hotel being reflagged and renamed to Radisson Blu Hotel, Prague.

According a Radisson Hotel Group press release from July 17, 2018, "The Radisson Blu Hotel, Prague is a rebranding of an existing hotel and is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2019. The hotel will undergo a full renovation to provide guests with the full Radisson Blu experience, including its personalized service and exquisite atmosphere."

https://www.radissonhotelgroup.com/m...czech-republic

est-gratuite

This is a VERY interesting thread to see how many hotels are pissed off with the new Marriott overlords and decide to jump ship.

Yes, I know hotels leave and join loyalty programs all the time, but this is a special scenario and I think there's value in keeping this thread updated.

If a year from now, we notice that more than 100 hotels worldwide have given marriott the middle finger, then I think we can safely say property owners and hotel general managers are not on board with all the chaos and lost customers this merger has created.

Someone should maintain a spreadhseet to see how many Marriott Bonvoy properties we lose to Hyatt, Radisson, Hilton and Accor with 1 year. I wonder which chain will be picking up the most marriott deserters.

Also will be interesting to see if a certain brand is more likely to leave than others. I'm guessing Sheratons and Le Meridiens are most likely to join another hotel loyalty club, but lets see.

Horace

With 6,700+ hotels worldwide in the ever-growing Marriott International portfolio, I think it's safe to say the far more than 100 of them will depart in the 2019. As has been noted repeatedly in this thread, reflagging for any number of reasons is normal in the hotel business.

At the same time, it's likely that a far greater number of hotels will reflag to join Marriott International or will open as new construction, which continues across the brands. That's true for the luxury tier (see the link earlier in this thread). That's also true for the full-service tier, where one-of-kind hotels are joining Autograph Collection; where hotels affiliated with weaker brands are converting to Delta Hotels; and where Marriott's brands (included those acquired as part of Starwood) are well represented in new construction. And that's also true for select-service and extended-stay brands, where new properties are popping up all over the place. Marriott International has strong pipeline.

The "chaos" of August 2018 and the issues that lingered after that have probably had a minimal longterm effect on hotel affiliations.

C17PSGR

I'm sure Marriott will lose hotels to Radisson and Accor because its cheaper to become a Radisson or Sofitel than renovate. Sheratons are certainly the most likely to leave as Marriott has informed the properties they will be required to comply with brand standards. Courtyards and Fairfield Inns in smaller markets also tend to leave Marriott when the franchise term expires rather than renovate.

Sounds like you'd prefer Marriott pull back on breakfast, no blackout dates/reward redemption, elite recognition, renovations, etc. so there are fewer things for hotels to worry about,

bergamini

Mergers, transitions, consolidations, etc., all suck and are bound to have properties drop out. It's just like when companies merge, some good people leave...and so do some bad ones. The consolidated portfolio has been fantastic for me so I look forward to that. The IT issues really, really, suck and they have got to get that fixed. But I wouldn't be too worried about properties leaving...that had to be expected. My only concern is that it appears W Hotels are a bit disproportionately affected and I really like them.

MSPeconomist

remymartin

Let's see what the MaRiotist apologists come up for an excuse when all the CIGA Hotels in Italy and the historical/iconic hotels in Spain (Maria Cristina, Alfonso XIII, Marques de Riscal, W Barcelona) exit the system.

bergamini

Let's see what the haters do when they don't.

C17PSGR

Not sure I'd worry much about the W Hotels. The Habtoor Group was a interesting situation, tied to an odd location, and my understanding is they wanted some commitments that Marriott wouldn't deliver upon. The Vegas situation involved a property that has gone into bankruptcy and changed ownership multiple times with multiple concepts. Hard to say about properties in St. Petersburg and Beijing. The St. Peterburg property left a year ago. The Bejjing property is obviously leaving within the middle of the franchise contract which suggests significant financial issues. It appears those financial issues arose well before Marriott purchased Starwood. See https://www.mingtiandi.com/real-esta...ng-for-rmb-2b/

In the meantime, there have been a lot of great properties come on board in the W brand in the past year: Panama, Costa Rica, Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur, Amman, Dubai -- those are obviously net gains. The Tel Aviv property looks great as well, but it shifted to being a LC rather than a W.


I tend to think that most FTers are sophisticated business travelers and have a better than average of the business aspects of travel and the travel industry. I tend to think that most are also generally objective, even if they have their favorites.

With that in mind, there are a lot of things in the Marriott program for elites that make hotels unhappy -- late checkout, suite upgrades, paying for points, points redemptions, breakfast, no blackout dates, etc. Additionally, Marriott requires properties to upgrade bedding, bathrooms, lobbies, televisions, level of trim/furnishings all of which add up costs. Obviously, operating as a Sofitel or Radisson is significantly cheaper. There are a number of reports of legacy Starwood properties in the pacific who are unhappy with the no blackout date policy and designating a single room or two as a standard room to game around the no blackout policy.

Would you prefer that Marriott stop those benefits and brand standards pushes?

I presume you've reviewed tthe post 8/18 10Q and conference call with analysts? Did you find anything in there to support that former SPG properties are dissatisfied about the merger? There are a number of 10Q's from late 2018 and conference calls with analysts for companies that operate multiple flags of hotels. Was there anything in there that supports the exit of former SPG properties?

Personally, I expected reservations to be down because of website problems and was surprised to see direct reservations were actually up.

MePlatPremier

MePlatPremier

C17PSGR

I think the former Starwood CEO, Frits, was a great visionary and built a great team of smart, thoughtful (and nice) people. He wanted unique and aspirational properties but the Starwood board wanted to build out the most profitable segment of the business -- Courtyard/Four Points etc. Ultimately, the Starwood board decided they wanted a new CEO who could try to develop that business. Then when it still couldn't develop that business, the Starwood board put the company up for sale.

Marriott has 40 properties in Dubai. They can't just start a new brand for Al Habtoor, to drive business to their Habtoor City, or give Al Habtoor an exception to late checkouts, suite upgrades, and breakfast. Hilton, on the other hand, was willing to make that deal.