Marriott's Ritz-Carlton expanding apace in Asia

The US-based company’s growth of The Ritz-Carlton brand continues apace with openings in Chengdu, Tianjin and Bangalore this month, while its JW Marriott brand will open hotels in Hanoi, Bangalore and New Delhi.

With 186 hotels in its signed pipeline, more than 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 at 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,” said Arne Sorenson, president and CEO, Marriott International. “Our explosive expansion across the region reflects the popularity of our brands in Asia with owners and customers alike, and with a hotel opening almost every week across the continent we will be poised to welcome travellers from the world over.”

Marriott already operates a broad portfolio of world-class brands in Asia – Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, Marriott Hotels, Courtyard and Marriott Executive Apartments – and sees tremendous growth potential across all brands in the portfolio targeting different market segments. 

The company expects to open 50 hotels under its flagship Marriott Hotels brand alone in the region during the next few years.

Marriott is also adding to its brand portfolio in Asia, with the introduction of Fairfield by Marriott into India just last week, and the expected arrival of Edition into Bangkok in 2016.

Fairfield is a significant new brand launch for the company, with 12 hotels signed for India, and additional properties under construction in Indonesia and Nepal.

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 own Marriott Institute of Hospitality in Anhui.

Further, the Marriott Foundation has invested 40.5 million yuan (Bt207 million) to support China’s youth through the Marriott China Hospitality Education Initiative. 

The group also runs educational programmes in other countries in Asia, including the Mahindra Pride School organisation in India, which offers on-the-job training at its hotels to youth from disadvantaged communities in the country.

Meanwhile, Simon Cooper – Marriott International president and managing director, Asia-Pacific – attended the recent signing of the “Statement of Intent on SMART Visa” at the “22nd World Economic Forum on East Asia” in Myanmar. 

Ministers and tourism authorities from Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and the secretary of tourism of the Philippines expressed their intention to collaborate with government agencies and other stakeholders to facilitate travel in the region for the implementation of this system.