Marriott International will open six hotels in Asia this month. The company’s growth of The Ritz-Carlton brand continues with openings in Chengdu, Tianjin and Bangalore, while its JW Marriott brand will open hotels in Hanoi, Bangalore and Delhi.
With 186 hotels in its signed pipeline – over 135 of which it expects to open in the next three years – Marriott expects to more than double in size in Asia through 2016, reaching a total of 330 hotels with more than 96,000 rooms across 16 countries. During this time, the company expects to open on average one hotel in the continent every eight days.
“This is an exciting time for Marriott as we join with our local hotel development partners in contributing to Asia’s future growth,” says Arne Sorenson, president and CEO at Marriott International. “Our explosive expansion across the region reflects the popularity of our brands in Asia with owners and customers alike.
“To expect to have some 330 hotels in the next three to four years represents phenomenal success of our brands and the commitment of our owners, but to be opening six iconic hotels from two of our world-class luxury brands this month alone is incredible.”
Simon Cooper, Marriott International’s president and managing director, Asia Pacific, adds: “While I am of course very gratified that we have reached 330 open and signed hotels in Asia, we are looking forward to continued growth in the region.
“We are seeing development across all the countries we are currently present in – including great growth in Japan. We are also entering new markets in Asia, having recently signed hotels in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
“China remains our biggest market in the region with 64 open hotels and signed contracts for an additional 89 hotels, which will take us to more than 150 hotels in the country in the next three years or so. As a result, we expect to grow our distribution from 16 cities in 12 provinces, municipalities and special administrative regions, to more than 50 cities in 26 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and special administrative regions by 2016.”
To meet this growth, Marriott expects to add more than 41,000 new educated and trained associates in Asia, doubling its current workforce in the region to more than 80,000 associates between now and 2017 with half of this number in China alone. To support its need for qualified staff, Marriott International has invested in programmes that support youth education through its Marriott Institute of Hospitality in Anhui, China.
