"Compelling" case for Marriott buying its UK rival InterContinental
 

Here is the press story from the 29 May 2012 Financial Times.

Interesting idea--as Marriott Rewards loyalists, we would have vastly more mediocre properties to stay at.

And integrating MR with Priority Club could see Marriott adopt PC's "no free breakfast" policy beyond all resorts and CYs ie abolish free breakfast for all top tier elites as part of a "best practices" consolidation. :D

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d32029da-a...#axzz1wWrNbqTi

I don't see MI taking over a public company, certainly not one as large as IHG....nor do I see this making business sense for either party, there is too much overlap and not enough opportunity

I disagree with your first statement, and partially agree with your second.

Marriott has about 8x revenue and 2x the market cap as IHG. I think IHG would be a perfect sized candidate for MAR to take over if the efficiencies created in a merger were worthwhile.

When I spoke about size I was speaking in terms of distribution and the location of that distribution (and then the headache of doing public deals)....too much overlap and brands in the wrong segments for Marriott

It seems the current best practice at airlines and hotels is to get rid of elites...

As a Marriott Platinum and Hilton Diamond the only tangible benefit is free breakfast & lounge access (which is also given to gold members). I don't get a better room then the associates I travel with that have no status. I have not been upgraded to a suite with either brand in several years.

I doubt they would do this but who knows.