A few franchisees have deals that are exceptions.

I'm certain you have too - MI can't stop a hotel from buying anything they want...they can take points away on your QA Inspections for areas where you aren't following brand standards just as other branding organizations do

I'm not personally aware of anyone having a waiver in this area...honestly I can't think of a reason one would be granted....

Jw marriott live has something going on with coke. Maybe they are just willing to take a hit on the evaluation?

could very well be willing to take the hit, it's not huge but it could be painful for some hotels

PepsiCo doesn't own any restaurants.

Not soon enough....Bring in Coca-Cola products

Love the fact that they usually have Gatorade for sale in the lobby's, another PepsiCo product.

mello yello

that is all

I travel to HK quite often for business and my clients always ask me to bring some Pepsi products from the Marriott props I frequent there, mainly because Pepsi is non-existent elsewhere in HK (one can find it in supermarkets, but usually at a rate that is non-competitive to Coca Cola), and most of East Asia.

I don't mind either. I do prefer a Diet Pepsi over Diet Coke but if we're talking about non diet products, hands down Coke all the way

+1 ^^^^^ Yes!

As I recall, the standard of making the guest welcome and taking care of requests always overrides any contractural standards for F&B products. For instance, if a group specifies in their group contract that Coke products be offered in the BEOs, I'm sure the hotel is allowed to do that.

So you end up with cases of canned Coke product coming into the hotel; and invariably it's not all used by the group, even though they paid for it; and the canned product eventually ends up at the concierge lounge, behind the bar, etc. to get used up. @:-)

Fake news.
https://www.snopes.com/cokelore/mormon.asp

Regular Coke all the way, hands down. Nothing like the first sip of an ice cold Coke to knock you upside the head!
Even better is the Mexican Coke made with real sugar.


Although I have to agree Diet Pepsi is not bad. But regular Pepsi is just plain naaaaasty.

Stayed at many Marriott properties around the world and never recall having Coca-Cola
products available. Such a shame.

Ugh. Disagree. Even the diet Mexican Coke sucks. So obviously to each their own. While I prefer Coke products over Pepsi products, in the overall scheme of things neither is important (to me). I've gotten to the point where (airline, hotel, restaurant) I just say I'll have a diet coke or pepsi, whichever you serve.

Cheers.

The best thing about Pepsi Co is Gatorade

Gatorade and Tropicana orange juice are what I like best from Pepsi. I’m not a soda drinker except for ginger ale.

The four most hateful words in the English language: "Is Diet Pepsi OK?"

Park City (Utah) Marriott primarily serves Coke products.

Why
 

Basically Marriott is loyal to Pepsi because they fronted them money when Coca cola didn't when they were first starting out. I think it's great Marriott has loyalty and though some hotels in the brand may offer coca cola they will never have a contract with Marriott. Don't know who starwood backs though since Marriott acquired their portfolio so not sure how that would play out if starwood was a Coca cola sponsor.

In general, Starwood is Coke. I try not to drink soda, but knowing the associated products (water, orange juice, etc.) on the Coke side are superior. This is a minor detail, but another one us SPG folks are worried about.

Eh, it's soda. I can't get excited about Pepsi or Coke/really care that much.

Cheers.

Pop, not soda.

Not true. The Pepsi relationship began during the recession of 1991-92, when by some accounts Marriott was only days away from declaring Chapter 11. Pepsi loaned Marriott a significant amount of cash at the time and helped prevent a Chapter 11; Marriott has been grateful for that help ever since.

Marriott first "started out" in 1927 and as a hotel chain in 1957.

Unless you are in Atlanta where it's Coke no matter what it is.

That's nice and all, but it still doesn't take away the fact that Pepsi is nasty.

Is there any need for change ?

The product quality, brand image, market position and customer profile of Pepsi and Marriott seem made for each other ....

Actually, if you look at the brand profiles/imagery, size, and global scope, Pepsi would be a better fit w/Starwood and Coke w/Marriott, but that's a story for another day

For Marriott yes, Starwood a big no

How so?

I associate Pepsi as more conservative, appealing to a crowd that might like country music, more likely to not have a passport, more likely to drive an American brand car. Visuals and typography more restrained than Coke... all attributes I associate with Marriott.

From my perspective, the people portrayed in Coke's advertising are more global and reflects more diversity, while Pepsi skews more caucasian. (The bubble that I live in has most friends who'd drink soda preferring an imported Mexican Coke)

My guess is that a Michelin star restaurant is far more likely to serve Coke (in a bottle) than Pepsi for the few customers asking for soda pop.

Curious to hear your take UA-NYC...

Having dined in many Michelin starred restaurants I can assure you that there is no Coke (or Pepsi) on the menus. You *may* be able to order it off menu, from the bar where its a mixer, but I am doubting that as well.

As someone who has done a lot of work in the category:
Coke - the initial entrant in the category, a behemoth, a bit more conservative / Southern in roots, celebrates the holidays, the bigger cola brand
Pepsi - the upstart, choice of a new generation (skewing younger), associated with music & sports, the #2 cola brand (a la Avis - We Try Harder!)

If you want to extrapolate further - Pepsi has focused in the past decade on portfolio diversity (focusing on non-soda products, trying to "health up"). Coke is now too but is playing catch-up in that regard. One could argue Starwood has a greater diversity of "products", whereas Marriott has a core strength in a standard offering (e.g., cola)

And in breaking news...

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star...-products.html

I never said it wasn't. I'm a Diet Coke fanatic. But I also like me a Diet Mountain Dew from time to time, and that's a Pepsi product. <shrugs>

But the poster I was responding to made up/lied about facts, and I believe in truth, regardless of which carbonated beverage a particular hotel chain uses.

At least according to a couple of anecdotal reports in the cited thread.

I would say that Tropicana orange juice tastes better than Minute Maid. YMMV.