Marriott’s 2020 Europe Vision, Plus How Often New Marriott Hotels Open

Marriott has announced their first development expansion for Europe since the merger with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and in their growth vision for 2020 Marriott has lined up several goals.

One of the items in the press release that caught my eye is that Marriott aims to have –

both the largest portfolio in the upscale tier and win with Millennials in the affordable lifestyle category.

To me that sounds like they’ll be adding more properties to their luxury brands as well as in the lower budget brands so a win for both areas.

Here’s the breakdown of the upcoming European Marriott group growth expected by 2020 according to brand, starting at the top and ending with the budget brands –

W Hotels – Distinctive Luxury category – Triple the number of signed properties. Already has property in Prague and Budapest signed for 2017.

Delta Hotels – Classic Premium category – Open and/or sign 4,000 hotel rooms.

Four Points by Sheraton – Classic Select category – Double the portfolio.

Courtyard – Classic Selective category – Expand. Openings in 2017 will include Paris, Dresden and Edinburgh.

AC Hotels – Distinctive Select category – Double the portfolio.

Aloft Hotels – Distinctive Select category – Double the portfolio.

Moxy Hotels – Distinctive Select category – Add 22,000 signed rooms, of which 18,000 are expected to open in the next 3 years.

Residence Inn – Classic Longer Stays category – Expand.

Element – Distinctive Longer Stays category – Expand.

After looking over the list, with the exception of W Hotels, the focus of the growth in Europe seems to be a bit bottom-heavy with Moxy’s lifestyle brand (read: budget) planned to grow the fastest.

In 2017 alone, Moxy will be opening properties in Vienna, Oslo, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam. Outside of Europe Moxy is growing too, with properties opening in 2017 in the US cities of New York, Nashville and Seattle. Asia sees their first Moxy openings in Indonesia and Tokyo, Japan.

While I know I’m not the target market for Moxy, at least some aspects appeal to me, mainly the focus on technology. Fast, free wifi is a must for many travelers so I fully embrace that initiative.

To give you perspective of just how quickly Marriott is growing their portfolio, here’s an interesting statistic from Reuters –

A new Marriott group hotel opens on average every 15 hours in 2017.

I knew that Marriott was huge already, boasting over 6,000 properties worldwide. I just had no idea that new properties were getting added so quickly!

You can read the full Marriott press release for their 2020 Europe expansion plans here.