Marriott International Hotel

1 Executive summary

This paper analyses and compares two major global hotel chains, Marriott International, Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Both chains have extensive investments in and outside the US. They have very strong brand names and are quite competitive. However they differ in their strategies, like the market segment each one targets, the role of technology in the business, the financial efficiency of their systems etc. The paper discusses the extent of globalisation that each firm has taken and what is their strategy in terms of global expansion. The paper also analyses the benefits and demerits each chain faces as a result of the individual strategy they had adopted. They also analysed the effect the recent financial recession had on each of the groups and how well or not they were placed to deal with it.

2 Company Introduction

Marriott is one of the leading players in the $144.9 billion U.S. hotel industry. It operates globally in 68 countries in Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, employing about 137, 000 people. It has 3178 properties under 14 brands operating in a portfolio of different segments.1

Starwood is another leading hotel company in the world. It has 942 hotels in more than 100 countries with 145,000 employees. In contrast to Marriott, Starwood primarily operates in luxury and upscale segment. It has 706 hotels under Westin, Sheraton and Le Meridien brands. 1

3 Strategies for Globalization

The most important strategy for Marriott is its complete brand portfolio. The company operates in five business segments: North American full-service, North American limited-service, timeshare, luxury and International. Each segment has several brands targeting different customer bases: luxury, upper moderate, moderate and lower moderate. As result, Marriott’s strong and rich brand portfolio gives