system
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human
ELI5: Why is the hotel industry dominated by international companies (Marriott, Hilton, etc.) but apartments are almost always locally owned/run/branded?

I know this is an overgeneralization, and plenty of hotels are locally owned, but it seems like >50% of my hotel stays are at a national (or international) chain. Yet when I look at apartments, they are all small and independently owned. Why has the hotel industry seen huge consolidation but the apartment industry hasn’t? Why do the major hotel chains have a tiny footprint in the apartment industry? For all intents and purposes, they seem like somewhat similar businesses.
gpt
>Why has the hotel industry seen huge consolidation but the apartment industry hasn’t?

The hotel industry by and large hasn't seen huge consolidation.  The vast, vast majority of hotels are actually locally owned.  

The big hotel companies are mostly just management companies.  They don't own most of their hotels, rather, the actual owner of the hotel has hired them to come in and run the hotel for them.

You'd actually find that the same is true of apartments - most apartments in North America are run by a handful of companies, the same is true of the EU.  Those management companies follow the same model that big hotel chains do in that they don't actually own most of their properties, they just manage them on behalf of the real owner.  

The only difference is that apartment management companies tend to brand their managed properties as a local thing because people want to think that the person managing their home is someone who is local and has a vested interested in their well being such that they will provide you with a superior experience, rather than a giant, soulless corporation.

That's a bit different than what most people want with a hotel - which is for it to be run by a giant, soulless corporation that is going to ensure that they have a uniform, acceptable experience regardless of where they stay.