Marriott International looks to expand in Australia
Marriott chief operating officer Rajeev Menon and managing director Craig Smith. Picture: Hollie Adams Source: News Corp Australia
US hospitality giant Marriott International has ramped up plans for Australia, eyeing at least 10 hotel management opportunities in an aggressive bid to bulk up its existing portfolio of six hotels under management including Sydney’s Pier One.
Marriott president and managing director Asia-Pacific Craig Smith said the company’s plan for Australia could be described in one word: growth.
“We have had a drought of growth for the last few years,” Mr Smith said. “(But) we are looking at more than 10 hotel opportunities in Australia at the moment.
“We have a 204-room Ritz Carlton going into downtown Perth. We also have a 330-room Courtyard Marriott going into Perth. We have a Ritz Carlton going into Melbourne, we have some good growth. We are working on some other stuff but we don’t announce until we sign.’’
Marriott entered the Australian market in the late 1980s and, like competitor hotel companies such as Sheraton, is keen to expand operations here given the low dollar and the record numbers of mainland Chinese arrivals.
“We continue to look in Sydney, we continue to look in Melbourne and Perth,” Mr Smith said. “It would be nice to see something in Cairns, we would like to be near the Great Barrier Reef in the future. This is an important inbound and domestic market and it’s an important outbound market. When you have the trifecta you need to have more brands (because) brands create awareness.”
The Gold Coast is another area where Marriott has been active, with its separately listed company, Marriott Vacation Club, buying the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa for about $85 million in April.
The Marriott Vacation Club will take 116 of the hotel’s rooms for conversion into 88 larger timeshare suites that will be sold to individual buyers. The rest of the hotel’s 215 rooms will continue to operate as a standard Marriott.
Marriott and the Marriott Vacation Club operated as the one company until last year, said Rajeev Menon, chief operations officer Southeast Asia and the Pacific with Marriott. Marriott Vacation Club now operates as a separate company, he said.
The ideal is for a Marriott hotel and Marriott Vacation Club to work together such as on their property in Phuket. “It helps us because we get more food and beverage business, no one likes an empty restaurant,” Mr Smith said.
Marriott has a strong brand presence in mainland China with 80 hotels, 20 of which operate in Shanghai where the company is seeing 12 per cent year on year occupancy growth.
“For us it’s a great testament because the Chinese travellers know and love our brands,” Mr Smith said. “We are seeing a lot more Asian travellers coming to Australia.”
Marriott plans to double its existing portfolio in Asia within the next four years.
“We have 180 hotels open today in Asia, we have over 250 projects that have been signed or in development,” Mr Smith said.
Source: The Australian - 27th June 2015
