Yesterday I created a list of hotel brands in major loyalty programs categorized by market segment from luxury, upper upscale, upscale, upper midscale, midscale and economy. The data came from 2015 STR Global Chain Scale rankings of hotel brands based on average daily rate.
An important piece of data missing from my list is what room rate designates a luxury hotel brand compared to an upper upscale hotel brand?
STR makes its business on proprietary room rate data information they sell to hotel industry clients. My solution to answer the question of what room rates define different hotel market segments like upper upscale, upscale and upper midscale involved checking the average daily room (ADR) rates for different hotel brands as provided in financial statements for a chain like Marriott International.
Marriott International is a good hotel chain for market segment room rate data with its 16 hotel brands ranging from luxury to upper midscale.
Marriott Hotel Brands and Number of Hotels (as of June 30, 2015)
There are slightly more than 4,100 hotels worldwide where you can earn and burn Marriott rewards points.
About 3,500 or 85% of Marriott brand hotels are located in North America.
Average daily rates in North America for Marriott hotel brands in different market segments.
Only nine Marriott hotel brands have sufficient data to be included in the average room rate summary below.
Luxury
- Ritz-Carlton $357
Upper Upscale
- Autograph Collection $234
- Marriott Hotels (including JW Marriott) $179
- Renaissance Hotels $167
Upscale
- Courtyard $140
- Residence Inn $142
- Springhill Suites $121
Upper Midscale
- Fairfield Inn & Suites $110
- TownePlace Suites $103
Full Service Hotels vs. Limited Service Hotels
Hotel brands are divided in hotel industry reporting into full-service hotels and limited or select service hotels. The main distinction is a full-service hotel is generally designed to handle both overnight guests and groups with restaurant and kitchen facilities on-site to cater to group events. There are usually larger conference rooms for meetings.
Marriott Rewards benefits and points
In my experience, full-service hotels are where hotel loyalty benefits make a big difference. Elite status can mean a more desirable room view, upgrade to larger room, hotel lounge for elite loyalty members with food and beverage, and more bonus points as a welcome amenity compared to limited service hotel brands.
Marriott Rewards members are negatively impacted by the lower earning rate at extended stay hotels in Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites brands with only 5 points per dollar earned. All other Marriott hotel brands earn 10 points per dollar. These two Marriott hotel brands include 948 hotels of 3,489 hotels in North America. Over one in four Marriott brand properties in the US earns 50% points compared to the other Marriott hotel brands. Still, the data shows these extended stay hotels are the ones with highest occupancy among Marriott brands at more than 80% of rooms filled.
Marriott International ADR and occupancy data for 2015 Q2.
Full-Service Properties
Ritz-Carlton Hotels (luxury) = 88 hotels
- 40 North America (ADR $356.95; occupancy 74.9%)
- 48 International
Edition Hotels (luxury) = 4 hotels
- 2 North America
- 2 International
Autograph Collection Hotels (Upper Upscale) = 86 hotels
- 49 North America (ADR $233.79; occupancy 79.4%)
- 37 International
Marriott Hotels (upper upscale) = 592 hotels
- 364 North America (ADR $179.38; occupancy 76.7%)
- 228 International
- JW Marriott is luxury segment; Marriott upper upscale
Marriott Executive Apartments (upper upscale) = 27 properties
- 27 International
Renaissance Hotels (Upper Upscale)= 159 hotels
- 81 North America (ADR $167.12; occupancy 78.0%)
- 78 International
Delta Hotels & Resorts (upper upscale) = 37 hotels
- 37 North America (Canada)
Gaylord Hotels & Resorts (upper upscale) = 5 hotels
- 5 North America (USA)
Protea Hotels (luxury to upper midscale) = 105 hotels
- 105 International (Africa)
- African Pride Hotels are ranked in luxury hotel segment by STR
Limited-Service Properties
Courtyard Hotels (upscale) = 1,002 hotels
- 895 North America (ADR $139.51; occupancy 77.7%)
- 107 International
Residence Inn (upscale) = 688 hotels (apartment style extended stay brand)
- 681 North America (ADR $141.63; occupancy 83.0%)
- 7 International
Springhill Suites (upscale) = 327 hotels
- 327 North America (ADR $121.31; occupancy 78.7%)
Fairfield Inn & Suites (upper midscale) = 747 hotels
- 743 North America (ADR $110.49; occupancy 75.0%)
- 4 International
TownePlace Suites (upper midscale) = 260 hotels (apartment style extended stay brand)
- 260 North America (ADR $102.67; occupancy 79.3%)
AC Hotels by Marriott (upscale) = 82 hotels
- 5 North America
- 77 International (mostly Spain)
Moxy (economy) = 1 hotel
- 1 International (Moxy Milan Airport, Italy)
- STR ranks MOXY as an economy market segment hotel. Their room rates for September are in the 80 to 100 EUR range. Seems a bit steep for economy segment hotels.
Marriott International has about 107 properties in their hotel portfolio of 4,317 properties that are residential and timeshares. Many of these do not participate in Marriott Rewards. These excluded properties include 45 residential properties in Ritz Carlton and Edition brands. There are also 58 timeshare properties. Many timeshare properties are available for reward stays with Marriott Rewards points.
Bulgari Hotels is a Marriott luxury brand with three hotels (London, Milan, Bali) and one residence. Bulgari does not participate in Marriott Rewards.
Average Daily Room Rates for Marriott Brands
In general, room rates in North America are up on average about 5% from the same period 2014. International rates have risen much more slowly at 1.3% year over year. Much of this change is due to the stronger US dollar. Room rates that have remained unchanged or even risen over the past year have been negated due to currency exchange rates. The dollar has gained 10 to 20% or more in the past year against several currencies.
The Marriott financial data does not break down average daily rate by hotel brand for international hotels. The average room rate by region is reported.
Marriott International Average Daily Rates 2015 Q2 by region
Caribbean & Latin America: ADR = $204.54, up 3%; occupancy 72.3% (up 1.4%).
Europe: ADR = $170.62, up 2.3%; occupancy 77.2% (up 1.4%).
Middle East & Africa: ADR = $175.05, down 2.9%; occupancy 62.9% (up 2.3%).
Asia Pacific: ADR = $153.74, down 0.5%; occupancy 74.5% (up 4.4%).
