Internet Brands bought FT; have no idea if they own Marriott stock but doubt it. JohnMcG will be at the Freddies, but much as I disagree w/ the decision to delete the corp sticky (and since right now we don't know who did it, although I suspect Randy & in response to Marriott screaming), I'd rather we welcomed him rather than start out his ownership experience w/ beating him up about this. Time enough for that later ;)

BTW, I'm back from a trip & have to get caught up on things but I'm willing to start a thread w/ publicly available codes. If THAT gets deleted, then we know Marriott isn't interested in serving its customers.

Cheers.

Codes are back
 

The same list of Marriott codes appeared offsite for those who are interested.

See: http://www.fatwallet.com/t/63/721745/

SOCRATES has no knowledge??!!
I am disillusioned. :(

Marriott RevPAR Numbers
 

Well, here are the Marriott RevPAR numbers from the annual report:
[RevPAR for North American Comparable Company Operated (Composite North American) properties]
2000 $101.00
2001 $91.44
2002 $86.47
2003 $85.85
2004 $95.04
2005 $103.22
2006 $110.74
[2002-2006 numbers taken from 2006 annual report, 2000-2001 from 2004 annual report.]

2005 isn't all that "recent", given we are now in the 2007 fiscal year. I am a long term (since early 1990) Marriott Stockholder but have not been pleased on how Marriott has handled things recently. I especially say that because the key to Marriott's success (at least why I bought the stock originally, and held it and the various spinoffs (HMT, HMS, CrestLine Capital, ...)) is customer loyalty...and when you start losing your influential customers respect, you are screwed.

Until this year, I completely agreed with the above statement. Like with most products, I always assumed that it's more profitable to retain your loyal customers than it is to acquire new ones or convert someone else's loyal customers.

But now, I'm beginning to question it - it seems that the industry may be taking a turn. All three of the major programs have taken very specific steps this year that directly and intentionally reduce value for high-volume customers. It's as if all of the companies have concluded that their business would perform better if some of their elites went elsewhere.

I hypothesize that it's because, in the short term, a hotel is more profitable on any one given night the fewer elites it has in the building. Elites not only receive more benefits, but they also are experienced travelers, probably familiar with a given hotel market's best rates, and know how to discern good value from poor value when it comes to the various incidental expenses at the hotel. The hotel will be sold out no matter what: might as well fill it with infrequent travelers who will be higher margin for that one night.

That's the only logic I can think of behind actively discouraging the people who were loyal to you in 2006 from coming back in 2007. I don't personally buy it, but it seems that someone does.

How's that for an off-topic ramble? :)

Thank you for researching the above, I do appreciate it and believe it will help others fully understand my point. $101 in 2000 $ is worth $117.09 in 2005 dollars, you can see still as of 2005 MI's RevPAR on a inflation adjusted basis was still 5.42% short of 2000 levels; once you add in the extremely large energy and health care increases experienced during this period of time Profit per room available has declined even further than the 5% reduction in revenue would lead you to believe (Just a note: HMS and Crestline were not spin offs from new MAR, old MAR became HMT which spun those off, MAR was itself spun off from old MAR so the above spin offs should have bearing on your new MAR returns)

Actually, according to the Federal Reserve, $101 in 2000 is the equivalent of $114.55 in 2005 dollars. (The point socrates is making is still valid, the Fed just disagrees with the detail.)

(For a handy inflation calculator from 1913 to date and years in between, see http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/)

I feel so sorry for Marriott.

Thanks B, I just used the easy average of 3% :D, unfortunately in this industry utilities, wages and healthcare are the largest expenses out there which grew faster than inflation as a whole

BTW I had a few words with Randy on Thursday night and he had reasonable explanation why it was taken down.

Care to share?

There was a Moderator meeting today, where I heard the story. First and most important, this has nothing at all to do with Internet Brands. Some of the companies with special Marriott booking codes complained, and one threatened legal action. It seems to me -- and to Randy! -- that they had a good point, and nobody wants to get sued, so the corporate codes are gone. The public codes remain, in a new sticky, and they aren't a problem for anybody.

I'm going to close this thread now.

Bruce
Moderator