Global Hotels: The death of the Billion-Dollar brand, the growth of the $100 billion dollar enterprise

Earlier this year, Bernstein's retail team published a note on the "death of the billion-dollar brand", arguing that many of the world's largest consumer brands are losing share to more nimble, niche challengers enabled by lower barriers to entry, fragmented media and changing consumer preferences. This report examines whether the same forces are reshaping the global hotel industry. At first glance some symptoms are visible—hotel branding appears to be losing power, and many of the largest hotel brands by room count have been ceding share—but hotels are unusual consumer products. Unlike most sectors, the rise of online distribution did not materially expand supply or consumer choice, and travellers remain largely constrained by the hotels developers choose to build. Those developers continue to value the capabilities of major hotel platforms, including distribution, loyalty programmes, technology, procurement and operational expertise. As a result, global hotel groups such as Marriott,