Major chains like Marriott and Starwood are increasingly focusing on expanding abroad, as tight credit markets make it tough for developers to build hotels in the United States. They are also experimenting with teaming up with independent hoteliers, a strategy that departs from their core business of managing brands.

Though these relationships vary, the idea is that a chain welcomes independent hotels into the fold — mainly by providing access to its reservation system and millions of loyalty program members — in exchange for what is basically a franchise fee. But unlike franchisees, the hotels that sign onto the partnerships remain independent and do not have to meet rigid brand standards.

The current financial climate has forced the hands of both the big chains, which have remained profitable even during the downturn, and the independent hotels, which have been struggling to survive without the deep pockets of their big competitors. Pairing up allows the chains to grow without building and the independents to attract more guests.

"One of the reasons for this is the decline of construction," said Bjorn Hanson, a professor in the hospitality program at New York University. "Public companies want to keep growing. A way to not dilute the brand is to create a separate group under the parent company umbrella."

While some hotel executives bristle at the umbrella brand image, it fits the stormy weather the industry just passed through — though dark clouds still loom.

Occupancy rates in the United States, though starting to improve, are expected to end the year at 57 percent, about 6 points below the long-term average. Room rates are flat or declining, and the fragile economy is still damping travel.

Mr. Hanson said those factors had made it more challenging for independent hotels to go it alone, despite the marketing advantages offered by the Internet. "The reasons for staying independent continue to diminish," he said. "But there are also more ways to be affiliated than ever before."

One of those is Marriott's Autograph Collection, which started in January with seven hotels that are owned by the Kessler Collection, including the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Asheville, N.C., and the Celebration Hotel in Orlando, Fla.

"There's kind of a Marriott way they do things, and I had some concerns about that," said Richard C. Kessler, the company's chairman. Like many independent hoteliers, he said he preferred offering guests a different experience when they traveled, as opposed to the chains' cookie-cutter standards.

The Autograph Collection hotels now show up when travelers search for lodging on Marriott.com and get promoted in Marriott e-mail. Even with the fee he pays Marriott, that placement is a lot cheaper than the 25 percent he pays when a guest books one of his hotels through an online travel agency, Mr. Kessler said. He also gets access to Marriott's procurement pipeline, saving on expenses like toilet paper.

"What I'm looking for is exposure for these properties," he said. "The early results look promising and we're encouraged, but it's still too soon to tell if it's a single or a double or a home run."

While Marriott's Autograph Collection is just getting off the ground, Starwood's Luxury Collection, a similar concept in the luxury sphere, includes more than 75 hotels, mostly in foreign countries where independent hotels are more the norm. The Kimpton hotel group is based on a similar concept: it is a collection of 50 hotels, all managed but not necessarily owned by Kimpton, each with a distinct design and name.

"We're what we call an endorser brand," said Michael Depatie, Kimpton's chief executive.

But no marriage of opposites has attracted more attention — and speculation — than Marriott's partnership with Ian Schrager to create an independent hotel brand called Edition.

Last week, Bill Marriott, Marriott's chairman and chief executive, and Mr. Schrager, the hotel entrepreneur credited with starting the boutique hotel trend, met in New York to reveal that the first Edition hotel would open in October in Honolulu, on Waikiki Beach. A second Edition hotel will open in Istanbul this fall, with others to follow in Bangkok, Mexico City and Barcelona, Spain.

Although Edition was initially announced during flush times in 2007, three years later, the arrangement fits the current climate of economically driven pairings. Mr. Schrager would be hard pressed to get financing to develop projects on his own, and Marriott, having sat out the boutique hotel craze, needs a hipper offering in its portfolio.

Edition aims to be a departure for both Mr. Marriott and Mr. Schrager, who said it would create "a new genre, the next phase in the story of lifestyle hotels."

"We would call it boutique if everybody else wasn't calling their hotels boutique," he said.

But for all their differences, it may be a sign of how much the two men have influenced each other that Mr. Schrager was more articulate in describing Edition's service goals (indifferent service being a criticism at his earlier hotels), while Mr. Marriott best captured the new brand's aesthetic.

"It's sort of a modern definition of service; it's not obsequious," Mr. Schrager said. "We don't really care if your coffee gets served in the finest sterling silver, we just really care if it gets served quickly and it's good and it's hot."

Mr. Marriott then summed up where Edition was headed (mostly abroad) and the mood it hoped to capture. "These are all cities that are exotic, romantic and vibrant," he said. "We're going to fun places people like to visit, and when they go they want to have a good time."

If the two men pull off their heady ambitions, their main achievement may be proving that independent hoteliers and big brands can co-exist — to the benefit of guests.