Top 10 Marriott Competitors In 2023

Marriott is a diversified hospitality company that operates a number of hotel chains and related lodging facilities. With 30 brands managing 7,003 properties in over 130 countries around the world, Marriott is the world’s largest hotel chain. The company operates about 1.3 million guestrooms worldwide. It was founded by J. Willard Marriott and his wife in 1927 as a nine-seater A&W root beer stand. In 1953, it went public under the name Hot Shoppes, Inc and was renamed Marriott Corporation in 1967. As of 2019, the company had 174,000 employees and a revenue turnover of $20.97 billion. Marriott is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

NAME	Marriott International Inc.
FOUNDED	1927
HEADQUARTERS	Bethesda, Maryland
SIC CODE	7011
STATUS	Public
INDUSTRY SECTOR	Hospitality
EMPLOYEES	174,000
TRADING SYMBOL	NASDAQ: MAR

Marriott similar companies:

InterContinental Hotels Group, Wyndham Hotel & Resorts, Choice Hotels International Inc., Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Hilton Worldwide, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, Raddison Hotel Group, G6 Hospitality, Aimbridge Hospitality, and OYO Rooms.

How Marriott Makes Money

Marriott operates a number of hotels, residential, and timeshare properties around the world. The company made $20.97 billion in revenues in the past year. The revenue came from three primary business segments: North American Full-Service, North American Limited-Service, and International.

North American Full-Service

In the North American Full-Service segment, the company makes money from premium and luxury brands located within the United States and Canada. The brands under this segment include Marriott Hotels, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Westin, Gaylord Hotels, Tribute, Delta Hotels, Autograph Collection Hotels, and Le Meridien.

The North American Limited-Service

The North American Limited-Service segment also includes revenue from the US and Canada. But it only comprises of a few select brands such as Moxy Hotels, Element Hotels, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn, and Courtyard.

The International segment

In the last segment, Marriott makes money from businesses located outside of the United States and Canada. This includes Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East. Some of the brands under the International segment include Moxy Hotels, Element Hotels, Protea Hotels, AC Hotels by Marriott, Aloft Hotels, Four Points, Westin, Marriott Hotels, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, EDITION, St. Regis, and JW Marriott.

InterContinental Hotels Group

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) operates around 842,759 guestrooms in about 100 countries globally. Some of its brands include Intercontinental Hotel & Resorts, Six Senses, Regent, Hotel Indigo, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurants, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Inn, and Candlewood Suites. It also has an IHG Rewards Club. The company was founded in 2003 after Six Continents (originally Bass Brewery) split into two separate companies. It has its headquarters in Denham, United Kingdom. As of 2019, IHG had 14,436 employees and a revenue turnover of $4.62 billion.

As of June 2019, IHG came third in the ranking for top hotel companies in terms of guestrooms. Marriott came first. IHG has experienced massive growth in the last three years. In 2016, its revenue was just $1.71 billion. It shot to $4.07 the following year and has been growing steadily since then. But it cannot still hide from the fact that its revenue is almost five times less that of Marriott. If it is to get to the top, it has a lot of work to do.

Wyndham Hotel & Resorts

Trammel Crow founded Wyndham Hotel Corporation in 1981 in Dallas, Texas. After a number of acquisitions helped it grow over the years, Wyndham Worldwide Corp spun off Wyndham Hotels & Resorts into its own company in 2018. Today, the company operates 19 brands including AmericInn, Dolce Hotels & Resort, La Quinta, TradeMark Collection, Ramada, and Wyndham Garden. Headquartered in New Jersey, United States, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is an international hotel chain with a presence in North America, Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and the Middle East. The company operates about 9,280 hotels in those regions. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts had 14,200 employees and $2.05 billion in revenues.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts started carving out its own path in the industry just two years ago. Its revenue is 10 times smaller than that of Marriott. Marriott also operates 30 brands compared to Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ 19 brands. While it cannot still measure up to Marriott, it is growing steadily. Hopefully, it will be a formidable force in the next few years.

Choice Hotels International Inc.

Choice Hotels started out in Florida as a nonprofit motel referral chain in 1939. Its original name was Quality Courts United Inc. and had only seven motels to its name. After several name changes, it was finally rebranded to Choice Hotels International in 1990. Today, the company operates more than 7,000 hotels with around 570,000 rooms in over 40 countries around the world. It is one of the largest hotel franchisors in the world. Some of its brands include Comfort Inn, Ascend, Cambria, MainStay Suites, Clarion, and Rodeway Inn. Now headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, Choice Hotels employs 1,882 people and had a revenue turnover of $1.11 billion in 2019.

Choice Hotels made only a fraction of what Marriott made in 2019. The two companies have completely different approaches to the hospitality industry. While Marriott owns its brands, Choice Hotels primarily operates as a franchisor. Marriott also has more brands under its wings than Choice Hotels.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Jay Pritzker established Hyatt in 1957 after buying off the Hyatt House motel that was adjacent to the Los Angeles airport. In 1968 the company was split into Hyatt Corporation and Hyatt International Corporation before they were consolidated again in 2004 into a single entity known as Hyatt Hotels Corporation.  Hyatt Hotels Corporation has grown through the years through a number of acquisitions and also by developing its own new properties. Its brands include Hyatt Regency, Miraval Resorts, Andaz, and Alila. The company has its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. In 2019, the total number of employees at Hyatt was 55,000. It made $5.02 billion in revenues.

Whichever part of the world you travel to, chances are that a Marriott property will be among your options of places to stay. On the other hand, Hyatt is still a growing company with just over 900 properties spread across 65 countries globally. That explains why it makes four times less than Marriott.

Hilton Worldwide

Conrad Hilton founded Hilton in 1919 in Cisco, Texas. Between 1969 and 2009, the company had its headquarters in Beverly Hills, California, before moving to its current headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Hilton operates and franchises a number of hotels and resorts under 18 brands including Motto, Tru, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Conrad, LXR Hotels & Resorts, and Canopy. It oversees 6,110 properties with 977,000 rooms spread across 120 countries globally. As of 2019, Hilton had 173,000 employees and a revenue turnover of $9.45 billion.

Hilton is the second-largest hotel chain in the world after Marriott. But the rankings do not tell the whole story. Hilton is way behind Marriott both in terms of revenue and the number of rooms operated. It is much closer to third than to first place. It will take a while for Hilton to catch up.

Best Western Hotels & Resorts

Best Western was founded in 1946 by M.K. Guertin as a referral network of independent California hoteliers. Initially, the company operated as a nonprofit cooperative membership association but was forced to register as a franchisor by the North Dakota Supreme Court. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, the company operates more than 4,500 hotels worldwide around the world. Canadian hoteliers joined the franchise before it expanded to New Zealand, Mexico, and Australia in 1976. Today, the company has 18 brands under its name and made $3 billion in revenues. It had 1,000 employees in 2019.

Just like Choice Hotels International, Best Western is a franchisor that licenses out its brand to hotel operators under it. Had it had its way in North Dakota Supreme Court in 1985, it would probably still be a cooperative membership association for hoteliers.

Raddison Hotel Group

Radisson Hotel Group is one of the leading hospitality companies. It has 7 hotel brands under its name. These include Radisson Blu, Radisson Collection, Radisson Red, Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inn & Suites, and Park Inn. The company has a presence in around 115 countries globally and is headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota. As of 2019, the Radisson Hotel Group had 10,000 employees and a revenue turnover of $1 billion. The company was founded in 1962 by Curt Carlson as a division of Carlson Companies.

While the Radisson Hotel Group is quite well known, it is not as popular as Marriott. This is reflected in their revenues. Radisson only operates 7 brands compared to Marriott’s 30. But as a public company, Marriott can easily get funding for expansion from its investors.

G6 Hospitality

G6 Hospitality was established in 1962 by construction company owners Paul Greene and William Becker as a cost-effective accommodation alternative for construction crews traveling around the country for projects. The company grew through the years and opened its first location outside of the US in 2000. This was in Ontario, Canada. By 2014, it had a presence in over 1,200 locations in Canada and the US. Today, G6 Hospitality operates 1,400 economy lodges under Studio 6 and Motel 6 brands in the US and Canada. It also has operations in India under the Hotel 6 brand. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, G6 Hospitality employs 10,000 people and had a revenue turnover of $1 billion.

G6 Hospitality is a franchisor with just three brands to its name and slightly over 1,000 franchises operating under it. It is also limited to just three countries, in which it targets economy-class lodgers. It would be far-fetched to expect it to stand up to Marriott.  

Aimbridge Hospitality

Aimbridge Hospitality was established in 2003 by Dave Johnson with just eight properties to its name. It is a third-party hotel management company that offers luxury hotel, lifestyle hotel, destination resort, and convention center select and full services. In 2019, Aimbridge merged with Interstate Hotels & Resorts. Its portfolio now consists of 1,400 properties spread across 49 states in the US and 20 other countries. It is the largest third-party hotel management company in the world. As of 2019, the company had 60,000 employees and a revenue turnover of $4.8 billion.

Founded in 2003, Aimbridge Hospitality is the new kid on the block trying to take on the more established ones. Whether it will succeed over time remains to be seen. It has already established itself as a leader in its segment and had an impressive performance in the last financial year.

OYO Rooms

OYO Rooms was founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal. Headquartered in Gurugram, India, Oyo is one of the fastest-growing hospitality chains globally. It provides both leased and franchised living space, home, and hotel services in India, the US, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the UK among other countries. In 2019, the company had a revenue turnover of $1 billion. It has 17,000 employees.

Just seven years into the industry, OYO Rooms is already being touted as an industry leader in the next few years. While its revenue cannot match up to that of Marriott at the moment, it already has more rooms around the world than the current industry leader. Marriott better watch out.

Conclusion

The top 10 Marriott competitors include: InterContinental Hotels Group, Wyndham Hotel & Resorts, Choice Hotels International Inc., Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Hilton Worldwide, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, Raddison Hotel Group, G6 Hospitality, Aimbridge Hospitality, and OYO Rooms. They had a total of 356,518 employees. Their combined revenue for 2019 was $30.14 billion. Hilton is Marriot’s biggest competitor.

Competitor Stats

NAME	FOUNDED	HEADQUARTERS	EMPLOYEES
InterContinental Hotels Group	2003	Denham, United Kingdom	14,436
Wyndham Hotel & Resorts	1981	New Jersey, United States	14,200
Choice Hotels International Inc.	1939	Rockville, Maryland	1,882
Hyatt Hotels Corporation	1957	Chicago, Illinois	55,000
Hilton Worldwide	1969	McLean, Virginia	173,000
Best Western Hotels & Resorts	1946	Phoenix, Arizona	1,000
Raddison Hotel Group	1962	Minnetonka, Minnesota	10,000
G6 Hospitality	1962	Dallas, Texas	10,000
Aimbridge Hospitality	2003	Dallas, Texas	60,000
OYO Rooms	2013	Gurugram, India	17,000