Marriott Sets 2015 Deadline to Double its Footprint in Europe

March 12, 2010
By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user uggboy

The European hotel market continues to reel from the impact of the global economic crisis, but that isn’t stopping Marriott International Inc. from making big expansion plans in the region. The Bethesda, Md.-based hospitality company recently announced that it will increase its presence in Europe, where it currently operates 174 hotels, from 40,000 guestrooms to 80,000 guestrooms by 2015.

Not only will Marriott’s number of guestrooms increase in Europe but the number of its brands represented will grow with the addition of the first Residence Inn, as well as the new Autograph Collection and Edition brands. Approximately, 30 development projects are in the works to support the portfolio growth spurt, including the Renaissance Moscow Monarch Center Hotel (pictured), which will debut this year.

In addition to the Renaissance Moscow, Marriott’s new European hotel openings this year include the Courtyard by Marriott Budapest and the JW Marriott Hotel Ankara. Despite a bleak 2009, and a lackluster forecast for 2010, the opening of new properties this year could be seen as a smart move–for the future. As per the DLA Piper 2010 European Hospitality Outlook Survey, released this month, 54 percent of respondents cited 2011 as the year in which the European hospitality industry will show a sustained recovery; a minuscule 2 percent pointed to 2010 as the rebound year.

Other U.S.-based hotel concerns are prepping now for market changes in Europe in the future. Among those that are looking to impending demand in the market is White Plains, N.Y.-headquartered Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., which, earlier this month, announced a global expansion plan that would bring 50 new properties to Europe, Africa and the Middle East by 2012, with the majority of the projects planned for Central and Eastern Europe.