Marriott announced a major expansion of its European portfolio, marking the first regional growth plan revealed since the company’s acquisition of Starwood in September 2016.
By 2020, Marriott intends to introduce its 4-star Delta Hotels by Marriott brand across Europe, delivering more than 4,000 rooms nationwide. The company is also pursuing an aggressive growth strategy for its W Hotels brand, aiming to triple the number of signed deals in Europe by 2020, supported by recent agreements in Prague and Budapest.
“2016 was a pivotal year for both the company and our Europe team. With the Starwood acquisition alone we added 40,000 rooms in Europe, and met our long-term goal of tripling our size—from 40,000 open rooms in 2010 to 134,000 open or signed rooms at the end of 2016,” said Amy McPherson, president and managing director of Marriott International, Europe. “Looking ahead, we have set ambitious targets for 2020: to strengthen our leadership in luxury and full-service segments, to maintain the largest portfolio in the upscale tier, and to win over millennials in the affordable lifestyle category.”
Marriott plans to solidify its position in the European upscale segment by 2020, where it already operates roughly 24,000 rooms under brands such as AC Hotels, Aloft Hotels and Four Points by Sheraton. The company also aims to grow its Courtyard Hotels footprint in Europe to more than 12,000 rooms by 2020, with new openings scheduled in Paris, Dresden and Edinburgh.
Extended-stay offerings will expand as well, with about 30 Residence Inn and Element properties planned or signed in cities including London, Aberdeen and Amsterdam. However, the greatest room growth is projected to come from Marriott’s youngest lifestyle brand, Moxy Hotels.
Launched in Milan in 2014, Moxy already operates more than 1,000 rooms in Europe and has roughly 9,000 additional rooms in development. Marriott expects the brand to add about 22,000 rooms by 2020, with approximately 18,000 of those rooms projected to open within the next three years. During the current year, Moxy is scheduled to open properties in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Vienna and Oslo, as well as U.S. locations in New York, Seattle and Nashville. The brand has also signed its first Asian projects, slated for Bandung, Indonesia, and Tokyo, Japan.