Marriott’s vice president for South Asia, Ranju Alex, said the firm will open three more mid-market, economy lifestyle hotels, including one each in Mumbai and Chennai, and a second property in Bengaluru.
“It is a very successful brand around the world, and we are very confident it will do well in India because of the country’s large young demographic and the pace at which they travel. To begin with, the segmentation will be to focus on the big cities because that’s where the travellers go most. Currently, there are 125 Moxy hotels in 24 countries,” she said.
The decade-old brand does not feature check- in counters, and instead has spacious communal areas. Instead of a traditional reception, these hotels house a lobby bar that serves as a check-in counter.
Marriott operates 148 hotels in India, including eight which are operational since April last year, when global chief executive Anthony Capuano visited India. It is planning to launch 15 more properties by the end of 2024.
Capuano had said that India will have 250 Marriott hotels by 2025, making it the third largest market for the firm. Since July 2023 Marriott’s India business posted revenue of $1.4 billion.
In 2025, it will also grow its Edition, Autograph, and AM brands in India. However, W Hotels and JW Marriott are also expected to drive a lot of business here, Alex said. There is a huge appetite for leisure travel in India, she added. “The overall hotel development market in India is very bullish over the last few years, and we are very confident and pursuing overall development strategy as there is big demand for all categories of hotels right now, including other brands like Courtyard by Marriott and Westin.”
This year, Alex expects hotel operations and occupancy to witness rationalisation over 2023, when events like the G20 summit and ICC Men’s World Cup took place. “Growth in 2022-2023 was hyper and off the charts. This year, the rates will continue to remain strong.”
Alex said the firm has hiked room rates over 2022. “This shows the market continues to be positive, but, there could be some rationalisation in growth rate.“ Its India occupancies stand at around 71, exceeding 2019’s 69.1%.
Globally, Marriott owns about 30 brands, such as Bvlgari Hotels, St Regis, Edition, The Ritz-Carlton, and W Hotels in the luxury space, besides premium hotels like Le Meridien, Sheraton, and Westin. India saw a year of massive growth with 2023 demonstrating a double digit growth in the hotel business, as per consultancies, propelled by domestic leisure trips, meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibition (MICE) events, the G20 Summit, and the return of business travellers.
This year Alex expects that while some Indian business will now go abroad, there will likely be a stronger return of the international business traveller. This is a figure which has yet not come back to 2019 levels in India.
Overall, India’s premium hotels saw an impressive occupancy rate of 70-72%, with average room rates exceeding ₹6,000 a night, said ratings agency Icra. Hotel revenues saw a robust 20% increase over 2022 while operating margins surpassed the 30% mark.
As per data from consultancy JLL India, between January and November 2023, about 12,400 rooms across the country had been added, demonstrating a 25% growth compared to calendar year 2022. Of this, 60% of the total openings are from tier-III destinations, and 34% from tier-II cities.
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Published: 12 Jan 2024, 10:08 PM IST