NEW DELHI: American hospitality major Marriott International — the group with the largest number of branded hotel rooms in India at about 26,000 — has drawn up very ambitious growth plans for the country. It currently has 134 hotels with 67 in the pipeline and is in talks for signing up several more properties. “We will hit the 200-hotel mark in India by 2025.
The travel recovery here post Omicron has been phenomenal and we have now stopped referring to pre-Covid levels (for both room rates and occupancies) as we surpassed those levels this May itself,” Marriott International area VP (South Asia) Ranju Alex told TOI.
“In the last 22 months during the pandemic we have signed 24 hotels in India. All countries are behaving very differently (in terms of post pandemic travel recovery) depending on the easing of restrictions. India is on a huge trajectory. We are growing exponentially and opening 14-20 hotels every year here. The rate of growth being seen in India is fantastic and it is a focus country as far as the global platform is concerned,” Alex said.
According to a report by hospitality consultancy firm Hotelivate earlier this year, Taj has the highest number of hotels in India but Marriott has the largest room inventory in India “due to (Taj’s) lower rooms per hotel ratio compared to Marriott.”
As India came out of Omicron wave, Marriott saw this April business numbers come very close to same month of 2019. “We breached pre-Covid levels in most of our hotels in May 2022. Room rates are now 20% higher than pre-Covid level on a month-on-month basis. We have left 2019 far behind,” she said. Occupancy recovery is different on a city-by-city basis with few places like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, dependent on IT travel, yet to fully recover to 2019 levels.
International travel is yet to fully recover due to issues like visa delays and high airfares. “Domestic travel is back 105% of 2019. We were hoping to reach 100% of international inbound this October-December. Sadly that didn’t happen in October for a number of reasons and we are optimistic will happen this month and the next. The profile of international inbound is all across ranging from visiting friends and relatives to business. Leisure inbound has also started, which is great, in places like Goa and Mussoorie. A lot of charters are back,” Ranju said.
Marriott worldwide has 8,200 hotels across 31 brands. It has 16 of those brands in India (ranging from mid-scale Fairfield to the luxury St Regis and Ritz Carlton). Its India presence comprises of one-third luxury and rest are mid-scale and premium brands. That mix will remain as per the current growth plans.
The US hospitality major recently took over the Leela Goa and has converted that iconic property into a St Regis. Will India see more such big brand changes for its better known hotels? “We have started looking at conversions very seriously now. The usual turnaround time for a conversion is much lower than a property being signed, built from scratch which may take several years. The erstwhile Leela Goa was signed this April and we rebranded it in October. So the turnaround time was much lesser. There’s always an opportunity and there are some in conversation,” she said.
The travel recovery here post Omicron has been phenomenal and we have now stopped referring to pre-Covid levels (for both room rates and occupancies) as we surpassed those levels this May itself,” Marriott International area VP (South Asia) Ranju Alex told TOI.
“In the last 22 months during the pandemic we have signed 24 hotels in India. All countries are behaving very differently (in terms of post pandemic travel recovery) depending on the easing of restrictions. India is on a huge trajectory. We are growing exponentially and opening 14-20 hotels every year here. The rate of growth being seen in India is fantastic and it is a focus country as far as the global platform is concerned,” Alex said.
According to a report by hospitality consultancy firm Hotelivate earlier this year, Taj has the highest number of hotels in India but Marriott has the largest room inventory in India “due to (Taj’s) lower rooms per hotel ratio compared to Marriott.”
As India came out of Omicron wave, Marriott saw this April business numbers come very close to same month of 2019. “We breached pre-Covid levels in most of our hotels in May 2022. Room rates are now 20% higher than pre-Covid level on a month-on-month basis. We have left 2019 far behind,” she said. Occupancy recovery is different on a city-by-city basis with few places like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, dependent on IT travel, yet to fully recover to 2019 levels.
International travel is yet to fully recover due to issues like visa delays and high airfares. “Domestic travel is back 105% of 2019. We were hoping to reach 100% of international inbound this October-December. Sadly that didn’t happen in October for a number of reasons and we are optimistic will happen this month and the next. The profile of international inbound is all across ranging from visiting friends and relatives to business. Leisure inbound has also started, which is great, in places like Goa and Mussoorie. A lot of charters are back,” Ranju said.
Marriott worldwide has 8,200 hotels across 31 brands. It has 16 of those brands in India (ranging from mid-scale Fairfield to the luxury St Regis and Ritz Carlton). Its India presence comprises of one-third luxury and rest are mid-scale and premium brands. That mix will remain as per the current growth plans.
The US hospitality major recently took over the Leela Goa and has converted that iconic property into a St Regis. Will India see more such big brand changes for its better known hotels? “We have started looking at conversions very seriously now. The usual turnaround time for a conversion is much lower than a property being signed, built from scratch which may take several years. The erstwhile Leela Goa was signed this April and we rebranded it in October. So the turnaround time was much lesser. There’s always an opportunity and there are some in conversation,” she said.
