The world's largest hotel chain, Marriott International, plans to expand to at least 10 new cities in India in the next two years with over 100 new properties.
"We are in 40 cities today, that should be 50 cities or more by 2025. And maybe what is exciting to me is that results in us creating 10,000 new jobs across India," Anthony Capuano, President & CEO of Marriott International, told CNBC-TV18 on April 12.
According to him, the company plans to open 250 hotels in India by 2025, including those already open and those under construction. Marriott International operates 30 brands and more than 8,000 properties in 139 countries. The company currently operates 140 hotels in India.
Capuano said that the company's development strategy in India is to ensure that the right product is available in every market for every trip purpose.
"We have to continue to stay focused on the domestic market which is strong and growing. I had the good fortune to spend a bit of time with India's tourism minister and one of the things we talked about is the importance, as an industry and certainly from Marriott's perspective, to continue to tell the story globally of what a rich and diverse set of experiences the country offers," he said, adding that Marriott wants to offer ensure lodging offerings in all of these destinations.
Travel Trends
There has been a new trend in travel following the COVID-19 pandemic - 'bleisure', a combination of business and leisure travel.
"We talked about this (blended travel) a bit in our fourth-quarter earnings call. The fact that Thursday and Sunday were days of the week that were covered most quickly, I think this is the best empirical data that supports the idea that more and more visitors are blending business and leisure travel or leisure and group travel. That's great news for our industry, and it is a trend I continue to see in the future," he said.
In addition to addressing the physical features of hotels, such as architecture and design, there is a need to consider programming options for fitness and spa facilities, as well as evolving food and beverage offerings. According to him, this need has been further accelerated by the emergence of blended travel experiences.
Business Forecast for 2023
The Marriott International CEO said their forecast for 2023 is continued strong growth. "We gave a relatively large per average room (PAR) growth globally — 6-11 percent — 100 or 200 bps more than the wider range typically," he said.
Capuano reported that during a recent meeting with stakeholders in Boston, he was asked about the potential impact of factors such as the interest rate environment and socio-political instability on the hotel industry's ongoing recovery. Despite these concerns, Capuano stated that there is currently no indication of a slowdown in recovery based on available data. He cited the first quarter of the year as particularly strong and reported continued strong bookings
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