JW Marriott announces big expansion in India

The US-based company announces the expansion of its presence in India from six hotels to 21 by 2010, reports Anita Sharan.

US-based Marriott International Inc., a $12.2 billion sales lodging company with a fast expanding global presence outside of the US, on Friday announced the expansion of its presence in India from six hotels to 21 by 2010. Six new properties were announced by the company, adding to the existing six already under operations, and nine announced earlier that are currently under development.

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The expansion will cover three JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts properties and one Ritz Carlton hotel in the luxury tier, one Marriott Hotels & Resorts hotel and one of Renaissance Hotels & Resorts in the upscale, deluxe category, one Marriott Executive Apartments property for extended stay travellers and eight Courtyard properties in the upper moderate segment.

The existing Marriott properties include JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai, Goa Marriott Resort, Hyderabad Marriott Resort, Renaissance Mumbai Hotel, Lakeside Chalet Marriott Executive Apartments and Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Chennai.

JW Marriott mostly takes on existing properties owned by other parties on long-term management contracts. It hardly ever owns the properties. In an interview with Hindustan Time, Edwin Fuller, the company's President and Managing Director, International Lodging, said, "Of the nearly 3,000 hotels that we manage, we own less than 10. We started out with ownerships in 1990 but soon shifted to a management and franchise model. Less than 20 per cent of our properties are franchised." In Asia, the franchised model exists only in Japan and Thailand. Outside of the US, JW Marriott operates in 67 countries and territories.