Marriott International: The Marriott Brand of Hotels

Marriott International, is one of the largest and most socially responsible hotel chains in the world. They comprise a type of quality and luxury that’s well known, whether you’re staying in one of their top hotels or one of what would be considered a family chain; there are no budget Marriott Hotels. Marriott International franchises and operates hotels for their owners under long-term contracts; the company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol MAR.

Who would believe that the Marriott chain actually started as a small root beer stand in 1927 by the founder, J. Willard Marriott, in Washington D.C.? That would be a misnomer, of course, but that set up the foundation for making enough money to purchase his first hotel, and the rest, as they say, is history. As of 2009, the overall organization has about 3,150 lodging properties located in the United States and 67 other countries and territories.

Marriott hotels are known not only for their style, but for what they don’t allow. They don’t allow gambling in any of their hotels, even though some of them might have a casino attached to them. They also eliminated smoking anywhere on their premises in 2006. And they’re the first hotel chain to decide that none of their restaurants will be allowed to cook with trans fats, although it’s not known whether they’ve extended that to restaurants owned by others which may be attached to their properties.

Strangely enough, the pinnacle of the Marriott chain isn’t a Marriott hotel at all. Instead, it’s their control of the Ritz-Carlton chain, of which they own 99%. They originally started with only 49% of the chain in 1983, and grabbed most of the rest in 1998. Though they franchise to other organizations under the Ritz-Carlton name, they retain rights to the name, and thus receive subsidies from any affiliating hotels.

Marriott International owns a number of timeshares and other properties throughout the world. At one point they also owned theme parks, but they sold them to the Six Flags Theme Park Corporation.

Below is a list of the properties owned by Marriott International:

Full Service Lodging -

• Marriott Hotels & Resorts
• JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts
• Renaissance Hotels & Resorts
• Marriott Conference Centers
• Ritz-Carlton
• BVLGARI Hotels & Resorts
• Renaissance ClubSport Hotel & Fitness

Select Service Lodging -

• Courtyard by Marriott
• Fairfield Inn by Marriott
• SpringHill Suites by Marriott

Extended Stay Lodging -

• Residence Inn by Marriott
• TownePlace Suites by Marriott
• Marriott ExecuStay
• Marriott Executive Apartments

Timeshare -

• Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI)
• Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club
• Marriott Grand Residence Club

For more information about Marriott International and all of the brands under the Marriott umbrella, visit www.Marriott.com

See Also:
Marriott Rewards Program
Marriott on the Move – Bill Marriott’s Blog