A handful of companies hold the keys to millions of hotel rooms globally, but the list of hotel brands that those companies own is legion. Marriott owns Fairfield, TownePlace and Moxy; Hilton owns Curio, DoubleTree, Tru and Hampton; Intercontinental owns Holiday Inn, Candlewood and Hotel Indigo, to name a few.
Hilton Worldwide and Marriott International are two different companies that operate two of the largest hotel portfolios in the world. Hilton hotels are not part of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program, either. Hilton has 18 hotel brands covering 6,000 properties in 117 countries.
Marriott is a much larger company than Hyatt, with far more brands and properties around the world. As a result, World of Hyatt packs on generous perks, especially for its top-tier Globalist members, to make up for its relatively smaller size.
It helped that the chain also had a catchy name, credited to the brand's architect Eddie Bluestein, who inscribed “Holiday Inn” onto his design sketches of the first Memphis-based motel. Bluestein was inspired by the 1942 movie musical of the same name starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.
Marriott International is known as an innovative leader in luxury hospitality. Each of our globally recognized luxury brands offer owners long term value through category leadership, engagement with loyal and coveted consumers, and dedicated luxury expertise to support operations.
The largest hotel chain in the world is Marriott International, with a revenue of $20.77 billion. As of 2022, the global hotel industry has a market size of $1.5 trillion U.S. dollars.
In 1995, Marriott International purchased a 49% stake in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and in 1998, they purchased an additional 50% stake in the company, giving it 99% ownership of the company.
Marriott Bonvoy is Marriott's loyalty rewards program, and Marriott is an entirely separate company from IHG (the InterContinental Hotels Group), which has its own loyalty program, IHG Rewards.
Generally speaking, Marriott tends to be slightly more expensive than Hilton, but there can be exceptions depending on the specific hotel. For example, if you're looking for a luxury suite at a high-end resort in an exclusive area then Marriott may cost more than Hilton.