Skift Take
We're still sticking with our takes on which Marriott and Starwood brands will ultimately stay and which ones will ultimately go, but if you want to know what Marriott has in store for all 30 brands, as well as some other still-under-wraps initiatives it plans to launch, read on.
When Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood officially closed last month, making it the world’s largest hotel company by number of rooms, Marriott inherited 11 hotel brands to add to its portfolio of 19, for a grand total of 30 brands.
That’s a lot of hotel brands for one company but, even so, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson has been adamant in saying that all 30 will be sticking around, at least for the foreseeable future.
So now comes the hard part: Just what is Marriott planning to do to make sure each one of those 30 brands is distinct enough from one another, and all the other hotel brands out there?
Skift interviewed Tina Edmundson, chief global brand officer for Marriott International at the company’s grand opening of the M Beta Hotel in Charlotte, N.C., to ask her just that.
Edmundson’s branding and hospitality experience puts her in a uniquely qualified position to oversee this personally. She worked at Starwood Hotels & Resorts for 18 years, and then joined Marriott eight years ago. She’s also been through a major merger before, having worked for ITT Sheraton when it was acquired by Starwood in 1998.
While she said, admittedly, the Starwood and Marriott teams are still figuring out the nuts and bolts of how to differentiate each and every brand exactly, they’re already working on it, only a little over two weeks into the merger.
Edmundson also dropped a few hints about some upcoming technologies, initiatives, and possible new brands we may see from Marriott in the future.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Skift: We’d love to learn more about the specifics about how you plan to differentiate all 30 brands. What happens next?
Edmundson: Sure. I'd start by saying with the merger we are in a place where we feel like our portfolio of brands has really filled out quite nicely. Starwood's skews towards luxury and lifestyle, and Marriott's skews toward convention, business, resort, and select service. That together makes this complementary — it’s quite the perfect marriage, if you will.
But in any industry, when you have 30 brands, you're bound to have brands that occupy the same swim lane, if you will. We are doing work as we speak to solve some of those riddles. The Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis, or Sheraton and Marriott, or Le Méridien and Renaissance. We're very aware of what they are and some are easier to solve than others.
As an example, W and EDITION are both i
