RI and you have more of a kitchen in your room should you choose to eat in.

Lots of brands to describe here:

Ritz Carlton. The 5-star deluxe brand sitting at the top of Marriotts tree. Marriott keeps this very much "semi-detached" from its other names, no doubt concerned about diluting this prestigious brand.

JW Marriott. The top "in house" Marriott brand, 5 star luxury but not at the RC deluxe levels. Beds are mandated by Marriott, furniture from a Marriott catalogue, as are carpet choices, staff uniforms and all aspects as seen by the customer to ensure a similar experience wherever in the world the JW is.

Marriott Hotels. Flagship 4 star full service brand, very tightly controlled beds and furniture mean, as with JW, there's relatively little difference in room facilities and service quality wherever in the world you might go. This attention even goes to the menus and food offerings.

Renaissance. Again 4-star, full service but brand spec less tightly controlled. Rens are more individual than Marriotts.

Autograph. Privately owned 4-star hotels, vetted by Marriott and upholding high full service standards. Each hotel is individual and Marriott merely sets out a minimum spec for room sizes, work desk and bed sizes, but supplies nothing leaving each hotelier to deal with these. Each Autograph is unique, hence the brand name!

Courtyard. Limited service 3 star brand. Offers bed and breakfast, some may offer evening food, other don't. Brand spec, furnishings, beds, carpets and uniforms are all supplied by corporate, again to ensure minimum variation between properties.

AC. Another limited service 3 star brand. Marriott purchased this European chain a few years ago and it's probably best described as a modern, European Courtyard-esque brand, but less tightly controlled. The best description is probably "As Renaissance hotels are to Marriott hotels so AC is to Courtyard."

Fairfield Inns. B&B 2.5 star cheapest brand. Breakfast included, slow internet included. Again Marriott supplies furnishings, beds and carpets from a catalogue ensuring minimal variation. Very few FFIs offer food other than breakfast.

Marriott Vacation Club. MVC is a timeshare brand of apartments/holiday homes in which the timeshare sales and management element of the business has now been spun off from Marriott, but Marriott continues to manage the individual properties and sells unutilised rooms on a hotel-stay basis via Marriott.com.

From there you have the longer stay brand, Springhill, and the true long-stay brands of Residence Inn and the cheaper Towneplace suites.

Finally you have the mini-brands with few properties namely:

Marriott Executive Apartments being a timeshare operation and Execustay both of which are high-end long stay accommodation.

Edition. An uber-cool 5 star hotel brand in conjunction with Ian Schrader with a handful of properties and plans to make it 2 handfuls.

Gaylord. Another very small brand, this time of conference hotel properties.

And I should add that Marriott purchased Protea hotels in South Africa last year and it's not yet clear how Marrott is gong to deal with the brand medium-long term. The name may remain and be added to the stable, or, more likely, the properties will over the next few years be distributed amongst the main established brands, as appropriate. Likewise its recent takeover of the Delta chain in Canada.

I've never really though of SHS as a long-stay hotel. Next time you are over here, try one or two of these properties. You'll be surprised. Most tend to be on the level of a good FI, with modern (be it cheap) furniture and comfortable beds, but the small closets, open concept and lack of kitchen (although there is a fridge and microwave) would make it a poor choice for a long stay. The main advantage over a CY or FI is the separate work/living area so you're not eating and working around the bed.

This thread is from 2007, with significant activity in 2013.

Here's Marriott's current description of Marriott Brands ("4,000+ Destinations. 78 Countries. 19 Hotel Brands"):

http://www.marriott.com/marriott-brands.mi

Marriott's list above includes brands that are missing from BrightlyBob's list (Bulgari, Moxy).

Marriott's list is heavy on marketing hype ("Travel should be inspiring, and inspiration is exactly what you’ll find at Renaissance Hotels worldwide") and light on describing actual physical attributes and brand standards.

I understand why Marriott has 19 brands, but that seems like too many. People on this forum probably understand the rationale for each brand, but many of the brands (and how they compare) have little meaning to typical business and leisure travelers.

Does Marriott really need four "select service" brands (Courtyard, Fairfield Inn & Suites, AC Hotels, Springhill Suites) in the United States plus one more (Moxy) in Europe? Although they each have distinguishing characteristics, they really all compete with each other and with other companies' brands in the sector below full-service. "Suites" at Springhill Suites are similar to "suites" at Fairfield Inn & Suites. Courtyard and Fairfield Inn differ primarily in breakfast policy and furnishings/decor.

Some of his brand proliferation is due to acquisitions. Some is due to trying to carve out market niches.

Well.... If Marriott were in the business of selling hotel rooms, the answer would clearly be, "No." But Marriott is in the business of selling franchises. Having FI, SHS, CY and, now, AC means being able to sell four franchises on a street corner rather than one.

In my thinking, I'll stay at a "SHS/FI/CY" or a "FS/Ren/Autograph/JW" or a "TS/RI" as though those are three groups of hotels, rather than nine. Within each grouping, I gravitate towards a certain brand if everything is equal. SHSs tend to work better for me than FIs, and CYs have the dreaded Bistro. Rens are usually less expensive than AUT or JW and nicer than a FS. TS/RI are avoided because of the points issue. Even with those preferences, though, I'm thinking within the larger group of hotels rather than within each brand individually.

CJKatl, Your observations are excellent.

Marriott is not alone in brand proliferation, although its main computers don't come close to 19 brands.

Starwood now has eleven brands: Aloft, Design Hotels, Element by Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Le M�ridien, St. Regis, Sheraton, Tribute Portfolio, W Hotels, Westin.

Hyatt now has eleven brands: Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt Hotels, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, and Park Hyatt.

Hilton now has twelve brands: Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Canopy, Curio, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Hilton Grand Vacations.

Reviving an old thread with a similar topic-- what makes a marriott hotel a resort?

As an elite I think of it as not guaranteeing the regular benefits like lounge, breakfast, etc but are there any other criteria? I have stayed at quite a few and some rates did include breakfast, others provided it free as an elite. Other than being a hotel people like to vacation at, what makes a Marriott, JW, or Renaissance a "resort?"

What makes any hotel chain property designated as a resort, a resort?

Cheers.

Attitude and high prices would be my guess.

I'm not positive that high prices is a true requirement.

Well maybe not of the room rate in low season but certainly in the bars, restaurants, snack bars, coffee kiosks, spas, parking lots, beach rentals, etc as well as that famous pay-to-play 'tude!

Just dropped in to say, Mrs. Returnoftheyeti always ask if we are staying at a FairfieldSpringSuite.

How the Marriott website describes the JW brand - any folks with the requisite classical education able to translate?

David

FWIW, AC Hotels' description is also showing as Latin (or what I think is Latin) whereas CY's is in English. All of the other brands on the hotel search website have no accompanying text or even pictures that appear specific to the brand.

David

It's a text filler to show what fonts would look like on the live web page, probably means nothing.