Marriott International plans to expand in Australia
American hotel chain Marriott International is planning to launch new hotels in Australia including a six-star Bulgari and a JW Marriott.
That will come on top of the 15 Marrott hotels already in Australia.
Hong Kong-based Marriott International Asia Pacific president and managing director Craig S. Smith says the group is also looking at opening its first regional office in Sydney this year.
“We would love to see a JW Marriott in Australia, and we have Ritz-Carltons in Melbourne and opening in Perth, plus it would be wonderful to have a Bulgari, and also we have a W opening in Brisbane and there are opportunities for Sheratons to grow in Australia,” Mr Smith told The Australian.
“We have a Bulgari in Bali — it has been very successful — and we have Bulgaris in Shanghai and Beijing. We would love to see one in Australia: you have the clientele and the cities, it would fit in, but it depends on the location.
“It’s incredible the number of loyalty members versus the amount of hotels we have had in Australia in the past.
“That affords us the opportunity to add more hotels in market without each hotel stealing from each other.”
All of this comes in the wake of Marriott completing its acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc in a deal that makes it the largest hotel company in the world.
It is a group that now has a complete portfolio of brands including leading lifestyle brands operating in over 110 countries.
The deal has created a company with operating or franchising more than 5700 properties and 1.1 million rooms.
All up, Marriott has 30 leading brands from the moderate-tier to luxury.
Marriott expects to achieve $US250 million in annual cost synergies following the Starwood acquisition. Leveraging and sharing best practices would create the synergies.
In Australia, the main competitor for Marriott is the Accor Group.
by Leon Gettler, September 26th 2016
