Oct. 18, 2011--Marriott International Inc., the largest publicly traded US hotel chain, plans expansion in Asia-Pacific markets, including China, India and Thailand, amid a slowdown in Europe and the US.

"Asia-Pacific is our growth factor," said Neelima Chopra, chief sales and marketing officer, Asia-Pacific. "We are going to open 20 hotels in China, nine hotels in India and eight to nine hotels in Thailand next year."

The group plans to add 30,000 rooms globally in 2012, in line with the company's target of 300 hotels for Asia-Pacific by 2015. Headquartered at Maryland in the US, Marriott International has more than 3,600 lodging properties in 71 countries. It manages 18 properties in India across 10 cities under brands JW Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard by Marriott, Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Executive Apartments.

Marriott International is also looking for new partners to increase distribution in India. It has signed 36 management deals with hotel owners to achieve its target of 100 hotels in India by 2015, said Ramesh Daryanani, regional director, global sales-India.

The group will launch two brands in India by early 2013 taking the total number of brands to seven. Its budget hotel Fairfield will debut in Manesar, Haryana, and luxury brand Ritz Carlton will be launched in Bangalore.

The group is scouting for new locations in tier-iii and tier-iv cities in India for its mid-segment Courtyard by Marriottand budget Fairfield hotels. "We are looking at cities such as Guwahati, Bilaspur, Jalgaon in Pune, Hisar, Amritsar and Kochi in India and Dhaka in Bangladesh," said Daryanani.

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(c)2011 the Mint (New Delhi)

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