Marriott International Inc. is a chain of hotels and resorts multinational brands. Alice Marriott and J. Willard Marriott established the Marriott hotel and resort brand in 1957. The headquarter of the company is in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Marriott hotel and resort has got approximately 665 location points in 131 countries across the world. They comprise 205,053 rooms worldwide. The brand plans to build 160 more hotels comprising of 47,765 rooms. Roundabout 174,000 employees are working for the company.
According to a report by MacroTrends, the annual revenue of Marriott in 2020 was 13.770 billion US dollars and it has declined 34.08%. Out of which the net income of the hotel and resort brand was 176 million US dollars and it has decreased by 86.58%.
Today, we’ll discuss the swot analysis of Marriott. We’ll be studying various internal factors that impact the hotel and restaurant business. How the multinational brand should utilize those factors to exploit opportunities and face threats.
Here’s the swot analysis of Marriott as follows;
Marriott’s Strengths
Below are the Strengths of Marriott Hotel.
Innovation & Creativity
Marriott is at the 21st position of the world’s most innovative and creative companies. Effectively utilizing innovative technology is the main reason behind the success of Marriott. The brand offers a wallet-free experience, homes, and villas.
Rules and Regulations
Marriott doesn’t take its business lightly. The company makes sure that it provides the optimum professional services to its customers. You experience cleanliness, well-dressed staff, and quality service. All of these things are the regulations of the brand. The company makes sure that the employees follow its regulations and deliver the optimum quality of service.
Loyal Customers
The customers of Marriott are among the world’s most loyal customers. They aren’t going to replace Marriott with any other hotel. The company also offers various loyalty programs to facilitate its customers.
Acquisitions
Marriott has made very successful acquisitions of other hotels like Gaylord, Ritz Carlton, Bulgari Hotel, and Resorts Worldwide. Such acquisitions have amplified the company’s revenue to a great extent.
Partnerships
As we know that the hotel and restaurant industry is very competitive. Marriott has partnered up with the world’s biggest brands like Alibaba to reduce the competition. It provided the customers with an opportunity to make reservations without putting in any deposit. Most importantly, it allowed the brand to reduce the competition.
Reputation
According to the ranking of Forbes, Marriott has the 44th position of the World’s Most Diverse Organization, 99th position of Best Employer for Women, 28th position of World’s Best Employer, and 84th position of America’s Best Employer.
Market Leader
Marriott is one of the world’s leading hotel and resort chain brands. Approximately more than 31 brands are working under the company’s umbrella. It has got 665 hotels, 174,000 employees, and more than 26 billion dollars of the asset. It provides the brand with an opportunity for economy of scale.
Global Brand
Marriott is operating the hotel and resort business in more than 131 countries across the world. The worldwide presence helps the hotel brand to diversify its asset and minimize the potential risks. The company can maintain the revenue balance if it’s not working in one country.
Marriott’s Weaknesses
Find out the Weaknesses of Marriott Hotel.
Strictness
Professional rules and regulations are the keys to the success of any organization. Marriott’s regulations are so strict that they’re suffocating its employees. As a result, their performance, productivity, and job satisfaction level are declining. For instance, the hotel and resort company expelled an employee for liking a tweet on Twitter that had offended China in 2018.
Lawsuits
Marriott has always had difficult relations with the law and it caused the negative marketing of the company. For instance, a customer filed a lawsuit against the brand for blocking his wifi security and it put a penalty of 600,000 dollars on Marriott.
Negative Marketing
Irma Hurricane and the company’s response portrayed a negative image of Marriott 2017. When the management rescued only its guest and left others behind, even though half of its cruise ship was empty. The company is in the service and hospitality industry and it should be careful about such decisions.
Family Business
Marriott has a market reputation as a family-owned business. On the other hand, young millennials are the future of the company. They consider the family-owned business boring and it’s one of the major weaknesses of the brand.
Unprotected Data
The hackers broke the online security system of the Starwood hotel of Marriott in 2018. It compromised the personal data of over 500 million customers. It included personal details like account number, passport IDs, names, email addresses, etc. It posed a serious question of trust and confidentiality.
Marriott’s Opportunities
Below are the major opportunities for Marriott Hotel.
Service Expansion
As we know that Marriott is expanding and building 160 more hotels in the upcoming future. Now the company should expand its service portfolio by adding relevant services. Like transportation, real estate, tourism, lodging, and many others. It would help Marriott to attract more customers.
Customize Service
The customers of the 21st century are living a very comfortable life in their homes. Therefore, it’s a great challenge for the hospitality industry to satisfy them. If Marriott offers them customized and personalized services varying from customer to customer. It would help the company to differentiate itself by providing a great competitive edge to the hotel and restaurant brand.
Developing Economies
The developing countries don’t have many luxury hotels to serve the elite business class tourists. Marriott has got a great opportunity to open its chain hotels in those countries and exploit the market monopoly.
Demographic Changed
The demographic of the consumer has changed. The market comprises of millennials and generation-z and they demand a young and energetic brand. Marriott has the opportunity to reinvent the young spirit and add it to its hospitality business according to the needs of the customers.
Marriott’s Threats
Following are the biggest threat of Marriott Hotel.
Terrorist Attacks Risks
Marriott is a 5-star hotel and it provides high-quality accommodation services and other facilities to its customers of different nationalities. The terrorists usually target top-rated 5-star hotels which comprise a plethora of foreigners, so that they could make a statement. The company should tighten its security.
Trade Tension
Ever since the Trump administration launched protectionist and nationalist policies, other countries have also started following the same policies. It resulted in the form of increased taxes, restriction on the multinational brands, and ban in some cases. It made it difficult for brands like Marriott to operate business globally.
Hopefully, things would go back to normal under the presidency of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Economic Recession
2020 was the year of the pandemic of covid-19 and it led the global economy into recession. Thousands of people lost their job during and after the pandemic. The lockdown, shutdown of businesses, and social distancing are still in progress. The longer it would take the researchers to develop the vaccine, the more difficult things would be after the pandemic.
Marriott falls under the category of the luxury hospitality industry. The pandemic affected the company the most. That’s why the annual revenue and net profitability of the chain hotel brand declined to a great extent.
Competition
Novotel and Hilton are some of the main competitors of Marriott. They have the resource and brand name to increase the market share of the company. Therefore, the hotel and resort brand should differentiate itself and increase customers’ loyalty programs.
