The intent of this paper is to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of Hilton Hotels, Intercontinental Hotels, and Marriott Hotels. A SWOT analysis is useful in that it encapsulates the major strategic areas of a company, capturing it's core competencies or strengths, relative to both opportunities and threats present in its environment. There are many reasons why organizations rely on SWOT analysis frameworks, yet the most common one is to crystallize its strengths and weaknesses relative to opportunities in the market. Companies rely on SWOT analysis to also validate assumptions about opportunities versus threats present in their environments. The framework of a SWOT analysis also gives companies an opportunity to capture what strategies are working well today and their link to future opportunities. SWOT also often brings together qualitative and quantitative aspects of a company's strategy for a more thorough analysis of the current conditions and probable future ones as well. Most importantly, SWOT analyses deliver the long-term combinations of strengths and opportunities to overcome any weaknesses and threats. While a SWOT analysis is a picture of what's happening at a specific point in time, it's value is in providing strategic, or long-term perspective on a given business, industry or markets. SWOT analyses are most often associated with companies, yet they can also easily be applied to markets and entire industries as well.
             SWOT analyses are particularly relevant to hotel and resort chains as their fundamental businesses are changing significantly today due to both world uncertainty surrounding travel, higher costs of operating hotel chains, the massive changes in how travelers book their trips, and the increasing role of timeshares in vacations, including many other options vacation travelers have today. For hotel chains that include Hilton, Intercontinental, and Mar...