The chains' growth now comes from hotels that are already open. Yours is on the list.

Four in ten hotels Marriott opened this year already existed, and Hilton built its 25th brand to go after the ones still flying their own name.

by Markus Busch

Driving the news. In its second-quarter results on August 3, Marriott said conversions — hotels that already exist, changing flags — were over a third of its signings and 40 percent of its openings in the first half of the year. For all of 2025 the figure was about a third of both. So of every ten hotels that opened under a Marriott sign this year, four were already open, already had a name over the door, already had someone running them. The chain is growing on hotels that already exist.

The brands were built for this. On October 6, Hilton launched Outset Collection, its 25th brand, aimed at independent hotels — more than 60 in development at launch, and a stated long-term run of over 500 across the United States and Canada. Hilton named the market in its own announcement: more than half of the world's hotel rooms are still unbranded. Chris Silcock, its president of global brands, pitched the terms as "the flexibility [owners] want without compromising on quality." One tier down, the pattern repeats. IHG's Garner brand took more than half its 2025 room openings from conversions, according to a July 29 report on the conversion push. The chains are building brands whose product is your hotel.

What the owner is buying. Marriott closed the quarter with more than 295 million Bonvoy members. Hilton counts 260 million in Honors. That is the pitch, and it is a real one — a list of people the chain can reach on a Tuesday and you cannot. But what changes hands is not a sign. It is a place on that list, rented for the length of the agreement, priced as a percentage of every room you sell. And it lands in a year when being the name a machine already knows has started to pay: the AI answer, the review count, the loyalty inbox all reward the hotel that is already big. Flagging is the fastest way to become that name. It is also the only version you have to keep paying for.

The catch. Marriott does not break out how many of those conversions were independents and how many were franchisees pulled off a rival's agreement. There is evidence of the second — Choice has been losing hotels to exactly this push — so some share of that 40 percent is one chain's sign coming down, not an owner's. The trend line is short, too: a third to four in ten is one half-year measured against a full one. And the guest base being sold is disputed on the record. In the July 29 report, Choice's chief development officer David Pepper called the rivals' conversion brands "a shiny new thing" without a built-in customer, and said owners were starting to reconsider. Hilton's Chris Nassetta called that "a bunch of hooey." Two development chiefs, arguing in public over whether the guests actually follow the flag. Owners are signing while they argue.

What it means for hotels. Treat the flag as a distribution contract, because that is what it is. The test is whether the demand it delivers to your hotel, in your market, is demand you were not already getting — and that is measurable before you sign, not after you have paid for the property improvement plan. Ask for delivered room nights from conversions in your chain scale and your comp set, with dates on them. Ask what share of the brand's contribution arrives as a loyalty guest and what share is the same OTA booking with a different logo on the confirmation. A membership number is a list of people. Delivered room nights are a list of arrivals.

Hilton says more than half the world's hotel rooms are still unbranded. It has a brand for them now.

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