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Marriott Autograph Collection
Is this a new clever way for Marriott for having us paying more points on reward stays?
Originally Posted by Thomas Heath, Washington Post
Marriott launches an upscale franchise
Autograph Collection will partner with independent hotels Hospitality giant Marriott International is launching a new brand called the Autograph Collection, aimed at tapping customers who prefer independent, high-end hotels over brands such as Marriott, Hilton and Four Seasons. The Autograph Collection will allow independent hotels, many of whom have lost business in the recession, to maintain their character while using Marriott's massive reach to bring in more customers and save on costs. Marriott, with 3,200 properties worldwide, will operate the new hotels as franchises. The hotel owners will pay Marriott in return for using the giant hotelier's infrastructure, which includes its reservation and Marriott Rewards system, its purchasing power and its online site, Marriott.com. "We can help them save money on food, beverage, supply discounts, credit card fees and third-party online bookers," said Don Semmler, Marriott's executive vice president of brand management. The company said it is in negotiations with 25 hotels to become franchisees by the end of 2010. Marriott's marketing plan involves the development of specific hotel categories to accurately tell customers the experience they might have, Semmler said. The initial categories will include boutique arts, historic iconic hotels, resorts, urban edge lifestyle hotels and casino hotels, Semmler said. There are 1,700 independent hotels, many of whom are trying to cut costs while attracting new customers during the downturn. Semmler said the purpose of the Autograph Collection is to use Marriott management and marketing to bring a level of consistency to the new hotels, which the company hopes will build trust in the new brand among potential customers. "The universe of independent hotels has a lot of variation, some good, some bad," Semmler said. "Our research tells us they want a trusted expert to help them navigate, so there is no disappointment." |
See also Marriott News - The Autograph Collection.
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Originally Posted by heffa
(Post 12806151)
Is this a new clever way for Marriott for having us paying more points on reward stays?
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Scratching my head over this one. "Expand the distribution" in the worst worldwide recession of our lifetimes, when existing hotels are defaulting on debt, slashing associates and reducing services? Weird.
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Originally Posted by DenverBrian
(Post 12807674)
Scratching my head over this one. "Expand the distribution" in the worst worldwide recession of our lifetimes, when existing hotels are defaulting on debt, slashing associates and reducing services? Weird.
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Marriott's take on Starwood"s Luxury Collection.
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Am I the only one who thinks this name is horrible?
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Once again Marriott finds a way to get you to use more points. Hyatt resort stays take 18K - 25K points and as a Diamond member, I am much more likely to get the suite upgrade. Marriott will not get my 75 nights this year. Hyatt got them with the great FFN program. Platinum is not worth anything more than Gold in my opinion. I never get a suite upgrade as Platinum.:(
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For someone like me who uses Marriott as a tertiary program, this is great news. Typically I stay at the cheap hotels (in the CY Springfield, IL as I type) for work, and use points to splurge for the nice hotels with the family on vacation. Hopefully this will give me some good options...I've redeemed points exactly once in 7 years with Marriott...have ~300K, so a nice week in a nice hotel would be wonderful! :)
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A few comments:
What ever happened to the Edition properties? I thought these were going to be Marriott's "boutique" brand. One of the strengths of the full service Marriott brands are the consistent standards which they have to follow. This makes Marriott a safe choice when booking a property where I haven't stayed before. An Autograph property will still require a perusal of tripadvisor before booking. With the Autograph being an admittedly diverse group of hotels and only having to follow a subset of Marriott standards, I can already see the posts here on F/T ("Worst! Platinum! Treatment! EVER!") from the insecure and pompous MR elite crowd - even thought the property may be otherwise wonderful. |
How will the autograph collection fit into the existing portfolio? Between JW and RC?
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Originally Posted by skiermsm
(Post 12809077)
Once again Marriott finds a way to get you to use more points. Hyatt resort stays take 18K - 25K points and as a Diamond member, I am much more likely to get the suite upgrade. Marriott will not get my 75 nights this year. Hyatt got them with the great FFN program. Platinum is not worth anything more than Gold in my opinion. I never get a suite upgrade as Platinum.:(
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Originally Posted by mapu
(Post 12811724)
How will the autograph collection fit into the existing portfolio? Between JW and RC?
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Originally Posted by keeton
(Post 12810608)
A few comments:
What ever happened to the Edition properties? I thought these were going to be Marriott's "boutique" brand. As with all development I would think that the rollout of the Edition brand has been slowed down due to the economy. Edition Hotels are still supposed to be Marriott's answer to Starwood's W Hotels and this Autograph Collection sounds more like smaller independent hotels than what is commonly referred to as boutique hotels. |
Hi,
Originally Posted by skiermsm
(Post 12809077)
... Platinum is not worth anything more than Gold in my opinion. I never get a suite upgrade as Platinum.:(
Cheers, GenevaFlyer |
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