Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain by the number of rooms, anticipates yet another potentially record-breaking year for the company in India in 2024. This optimistic outlook is driven by strong demand in both leisure and business travel, coinciding with the company’s plans to introduce new brands in the country.
Ranju Alex, the Area Vice President for South Asia at Marriott International, said in an interview that the company is progressing as planned to enhance its portfolio in India to 250 hotels by 2025. This encompasses both currently operational and upcoming properties.
The US-based company, last year, projected that its revenues from Indian operations would surpass $1 billion in 2023.
“We have broken a lot of records and milestones in 2023 and we are expecting 2024 to be another record year. We are riding the India wave, and we are continuing with our very positive growth strategy. We are well within our commitment to be at 250 hotels by 2025, including operational hotels and those in the pipeline,” Alex said.
She refrained from revealing the financial performance of Marriott in India for the year 2023.
Moxy: Marriott International’s Disruptive Brand
“The economy is growing at a very fast pace here. We are seeing a lot of interest for our brands that are not there in India, and our owners want to debut those brands. For instance, the Moxy brand that will make its debut in South Asia this month, with the new Moxy hotel in Bengaluru. We are seeing a lot of interest for brands such as the Autograph Collection and EDITION. A lot of brands are on the threshold of entering India,” she added.
On Monday, Marriott is set to inaugurate the Moxy Bengaluru Airport Prestige Tech Cloud hotel, with the Moxy Mumbai Andheri West scheduled to open later this year. The upcoming additions to the Moxy pipeline comprise the Moxy Chennai OMR and the Moxy Bengaluru Sarjapur. Presently, Marriott oversees approximately 125 Moxy hotels spanning 25 countries, including 16 in the Asia Pacific region.
Asserting that Moxy is poised to disrupt the Indian hospitality market, Alex stated, “While every brand is unique, Moxy presents a very quirky and playful side of hospitality. For example, check-in at Moxy Hotels is at the bar, where guests are greeted with a complimentary cocktail. It’s also a very tech savvy brand targeted at modern travellers. It will have a lot of co-working areas and there are innovative room features such as smartphone control”.
According to Alex, the company is witnessing robust demand at its resorts and other leisure destinations throughout India.
“We have 10 JW Marriott hotels, and there are ten in the pipeline. Our pipeline includes hotels in locations such as Ayodhya, Ranthambore, and Pahalgam. We have a hotel opening in Katra in a couple of months, and there is another hotel opening in Sonamarg. Our hotel in Shillong has done extremely well,” she said. “The good news is that we opened 12 hotels in India last year, and all hotels have opened with very healthy occupancies and average daily rates,” she added.
Marriott Anticipates the Return of Business Travel:
Meanwhile, Alex anticipates that the resurgence of international business travelers in India will drive growth this year.
“From 2020-2022, a lot of companies curtailed travel plans because of health or financial reasons. Since 2023 has been a record year for a lot of companies because of the surge in business, I am confident that there will be a lot of conferences and meetings and target-setting trips planned for 2024,” she said.
“We expect the medical sector and the manufacturing sector to contribute to the conferences business. The wedding segment is here to stay, as now there are expectations that more weddings should happen here,” she added.
Continue Exploring: India’s hospitality industry toasts to 2024 with high hopes and record-breaking revenue growth