Marriott's Development Rolling In Europe

Despite the unstable economic outlook across the region, executives at Marriott International are pushing ahead with an ambitious European development strategy and are well on their way to achieving the target pipeline.

"With Europe being the largest travel market in the world, last year we announced plans to double our European portfolio from 40,000 to 80,000 rooms by 2015. We are already almost halfway to our goal, having added 17,000 rooms signed or opened," said Amy McPherson, the company's president and managing director of Europe.

Amy McPherson President and managing director of Europe for Marriott International There were 133,052 rooms in the total active pipeline as of 31 September, according to STR Global, sister company of HotelNewsNow.com. Of the total pipeline, 58,424 rooms are under construction.

This year alone, Marriott has introduced four new brands in the region: Autograph Collection, Residence Inn, Edition Hotels and AC Hotels by Marriott.

AC Hotels comes as a result of Marriott's joint venture with hotel group AC hotels, a move which added more than 90 properties to the former's European portfolio. The deal significantly expanded Marriott's presence in Spain.

The Autograph Collection will prove critical to Marriott's expansion efforts in the region, where conversions are an increasingly popular method of development in the independent-heavy Europe.

"The introduction of the Autograph Collection portfolio here in Europe has been very exciting for us, and we feel it will be a key piece of our growth strategy here," McPherson said. "In Europe, less than 30% of hotels are chain-affiliated and therefore there is an abundance of independent hotels that embody Autograph Collection's mission to deliver original, independent experiences to our guests." St Pancras Renaissance Hotel The Autograph Collection comprises eight hotels within the European portfolio: four in Spain, two in Italy, one in the Czech Republic and one in Hungary. Two further properties in Italy will join the collection during 2012. Expansion worldwide The United Kingdom and Ireland are also part of the pipeline as "key markets for us in terms of development and as a major source market for Marriott system-wide," McPherson said. ""� We opened the iconic St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London earlier this year and will launch our first Residence Inn property in the U.K. in Edinburgh in a few weeks." Marriott also will open during 2012 a new Bulgari Hotel in Central London and the London Edition Hotel, formerly the Berners Hotel.

In addition to Europe, the U.K. and Ireland, Marriott has continued to expand across the globe.

"At the end of Q3, our lodging portfolio encompasses nearly 3,700 properties worldwide," McPherson said. "As well as focusing on Europe, we are significantly expanding in Asia, the Middle East and the Americas." Cautiously optimistic Despite the challenging market and the investment required to continue the growth strategy, McPherson said the company's management team is "cautiously optimistic about 2012" and feels they are well-positioned for continued growth.

"We expect to add approximately 30,000 rooms worldwide in 2012, and whilst there is still considerable economic uncertainty, we are assuming full-year 2012 comparable system-wide (revenue-per-available-room) growth of 3-7% across all our markets worldwide."

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