What is the largest hotel management company in the world?

[Rick]

@bat312

OK, Rick…I did not make the question up. I am just trying to answer it if possible.

Here it is.

What is the largest hotel management company in the world?
a. Starwood
b. Hilton
c. Monarch
d. Holiday Inn
e. Marriott

I have 5 choices provided on the exam to select from as you can now see. I do not have a choice of “none of the above” or “other”. Now perhaps the question is flawed. I do not know for sure. With this new and exciting information, what say you?

a, b, c, d or e.?

Put this way, the closest answer to being correct would be D. Holiday Inn.
Speaking as a guy who writes test questions, what a craptacular question.
sorry if I came off snarky, I did know just how badly written the question was. if there is a feed back system for this test, when it is all done I would give them an earful.

[cantara]

I don’t have a direct answer, but it seems from the phrasing of the questions that you’ve posted there must have been some sort of study reference that was used during the course. It appears that the questions are meant to be answered out of that resource. Note especially the questions on Les Clefs D’or. Doing lots of research to find details on answering a question from a number of different points of view for a multiple choice answer seems like a lot of extra work and ultimately not providing the answer they are looking for.

Considering that a number of members have contibuted answers based on differing criteria (without knowing the multiple choice options) the test really wants to verify that you read their brochure…

I hope this helps you find the answers…

[bordelond]

@clairobscur

According to this page , it would be the british “InterContinental Hotels Group” .

However, they choose as a reference the number of rooms (which makes sense in this industry). Still according to this page, if you rank them according to the number of hotels, the largest group would be the american “Cendant”.

“Marriott” only comes third for the number of rooms and sixth for the number of hotels.

What’s strange is that Marriot International consistently bills themselves as the largest hotel management company in the world. Google their name, and read through some links.

Is is a semantic thing – is there a difference between “hotel management company” and … I don’t know, something else?

[Rick]

@bordelond

What’s strange is that Marriot International consistently bills themselves as the largest hotel management company in the world. Google their name, and read through some links.

Is is a semantic thing – is there a difference between “hotel management company” and … I don’t know, something else?

Better do some more reading. From Marriott’s website

Marriott International, Inc., is a leading worldwide hospitality company.

Note the use of the word a not the.

[bordelond]

I was wrong to say that Marriott bill themeselves as the world’s largest. However, others do:

Link 1

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ – Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) will break the half-million guest room mark as the new London Marriott West India Quay in the city’s trendy Canary Wharf area opens on June 1. Offering travelers across the globe 18 brands to choose from and 2,700 properties in 69 countries, Marriott expects to open up to 95,000 additional rooms through the next three years. And in 2004, Marriott’s hotel property owners plan to invest more than $1 billion in hotel upgrades, renovations and conversions worldwide.

…

Marriott’s market share in the United States has increased from 3 percent in 1990 to more than 8 percent today. As the largest hotel management company in the world, more than a quarter of Marriott’s recent growth has been outside the United States. Since 1990, the company’s portfolio of properties outside the U.S. has grown from 15 to nearly 550.

Link 2

Marriott’s market share in the United States has increased from 3 percent in 1990 to more than 8 percent today. It is now the largest hotel management company in the world.

Addtionally, you see Marriott referred to as the biggest in a lot of job placement ads (though it seems to be the job recruiters’ words, not MI’s).

---

I’ve figured why clairobscur’s post has different results. Those stats were published March 29th, 2004. From what I can tell, as of June 1st, 2004, Marriott International leap-frogged InterContinental Hotels Group and Cendant (in number of rooms, if nothing else).

Unless there’s been more changes in the industry, Marriott still seems to come out as #1. However, there is room for contention:

Prior to joining HSMAI in 1995 (in an executive capacity), Gilbert was the vice president of marketing for Richfield Hospitality Services, Inc., the largest hotel management company in the world, where he oversaw the corporate marketing support for all Richfield hotels, which included product from every price tier in the industry.

But then:

Richfield is headquartered in Denver with approximately 1,000 employees. We’ve been managing properties of all complexities including premier resorts, full service hotels, and limited service properties for more than 3 decades. We currently operate hotels in the US representing in excess of 4,000 rooms under brand names from the leading hotel franchise companies including Hilton, Starwood, Intercontinental and Choice. We also operate several boutique and independent properties. See “Hotel Portfolio” for a complete listing and link to their sites.

In 2000, Richfield was acquired by a subsidiary of City Development Ltd (CDL). CDL is the largest non-governmental real estate company in South East Asia with significant investments in office, retail, residential apartments and hotels. CDL is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange with a market capitalization exceeding $2 billion. CDL has majority ownership in Millennium and Copthorne Hotels PLC, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange with ownership interests in more than 90 hotels worldwide. Richfield and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels in the US collectively have a combined portfolio of more than 40 properties with almost 10,000 rooms. The two companies collaborate closely to draw on synergies from joint sales and marketing initiatives, enhance revenue through sharing of food and beverage concepts and exploit economies of scale to reduce operating expenses.

So Richfield doesn’t even appear to be in the ballpark with Marriott, InterContinental, and Cendant.

[ccwaterback]

@silenus

Marriott.

Marriott has the largest market cap.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/finder/results.asp?Cust=1&Industry+Name=Eq%3BLodging&DJ=&MG+Market+Cap=Large+Cap&SP=&Current+Div+Yield=&Avg+Volume+2Weeks=&12+Month+Relative+Strength=&Rev+Growth+Annual+vs+Annual=&PE=&Net+Profit+Margin=&Debt%2FEquity=