Realising that corporate branding is a major turn-off to a large segment of the travelling public, the chain's latest initiative is its "Autograph" collection - properties that are part of the Marriott group but still look and feel like independent hotels. Marriott hope to have 25 hotels in the collection around the world by the end of next year.
"We think we can capture a customer that we don't get much of at the moment," said Arne Sorenson, Marriott's chief operating officer. The plan is not to create new hotels, but to acquire existing independent hotels, either by buying them or by managing them for an outside owner.
Source