The success of a retail store or a service outlet like a hotel depends on: “Location, location, location” according to many practitioners and authors (Jones and Simmons, 1990). But, the location science, and precisely the retail location, has never really sought to deepen the marketing bases of this precept. The purpose of this exploratory paper is therefore to highlight the links between the location characteristics and the marketing strategies of a store or a unit. The empirical study, which consists in an observation of the location variables, focuses on the hotel industry. Cluster analyses are implemented to constitute groups with similarities first in terms of marketing strategies, and second in terms of location characteristics. Two research questions are thus explored. The main one is: (1) “Do the hotels with the same marketing positioning have also the same location characteristics?” The secondary one aims at
completing the research works establishing the differences between franchised units and
independent units: (2) “Is there any main differences between franchised hotels and independent hotels as far as marketing and location strategies are concerned?”