The announcement that Marriott and Starwood are planning to "merge" has had hotel experts thinking about what will happen to the various brands that make up the two groups.
Our chart this week shows the most important of those brands, with the bubble representing the size of the room estate.
The blue bubbles represent the Marriott brands while the orange bubbles are those of Starwood.
Where the story becomes more interesting is when you look at the overlap in terms of hotel segment (as adjudged by Smith Travel Research in its 2015 Chain Scales report).
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These two show that there is considerable overlap in some market segments and while not all brands are strongly represented in all international markets, there is clearly room for consolidation, particularly in the upper upscale segment.
However many of the brands have long heritages and guest loyalty. The person who has to choose which brands to cull has an unenviable task.