The Marriott story
Marriott is the biggest hotel company in the world, and after a while that stops being a statistic and starts being a kind of promise. Whatever the trip, there is probably a Marriott shaped for it, and one account that follows you across more than 9,800 hotels in 145 countries. The interesting part is how different those hotels can be while still flying the same flag.
At one end sit the names you plan a year around: Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, the JW Marriott on Lake Rosseau in Muskoka. At the other, the quiet reliability of a Courtyard near the airport or a Fairfield off the highway, the rooms you book when the trip is the point and the hotel just has to be good. In between is almost everything else, Sheraton, Westin, Renaissance, and Delta Hotels, the Canadian-founded brand Marriott folded in, which is why its name sits on so many downtowns.
Marriott reaches the beach, too, though not always the way people assume. Through All-Inclusive by Marriott Bonvoy, sun resorts across Mexico and the Caribbean earn the same points as a city stay. Some of the best-known names in that line-up, Royalton and Planet Hollywood among them, are independently owned and simply distributed through Marriott, a detail worth knowing when you compare.
What ties it together is less a look than a habit: a standard you can count on, and a rewards program, Marriott Bonvoy, deep enough that regulars rarely stray. For a traveller, the pitch is simple. Learn one brand family well, and you have a place to stay almost anywhere, at almost any budget, for almost any occasion.
