20 Marriott brands to be present in the UAE by 2020

May 9, 2017

Philip Bryson.

With 14 Marriott brands already operational in the UAE, and three new brands opening this year, the operator will have 20 of its 30 brands trading in the UAE by 2020.

In conversation with Hotelier Middle East at Arabian Travel Market, Marriott International senior vice president UAE Philip Bryson said: "We hae got 14 in the UAE, and three new brands coming on this year alone: Bulgari, Edition, Renaissance."

With 49 Marriott hotels already open, the 50^th is due to go live soon, he said.

"Then we will open another 30 hotels in the next three years. That will take us to 80 hotels and 20 brands and about 23,000 rooms in the UAE," revealed Bryson, saying that the operator now has 16,000 rooms in the UAE.

The proposition Marriott now offers with its variety of brands has translated to increased interest from owners, Bryson said.

"We are seeing an increased interest from owners and investors in our portfolio and people realise that we now punch well above our weight. We have more distribution and we have more money to invest in technology, distribution platforms and marketing. We have a 100 million loyalty members across our three programmes and all that creates a good reason for owners wanting to plug in to our distribution. That interest is at all levels from luxury through to economy," he said.

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Asked whether the market is too saturated for so many brands, Bryson disagreed and commented that the demand will still there. He added: "We don’t necessarily put the brand in the market and expect the demand to come. It’s the market that decides the products they want."

He also pointed out that there's a definitive interest across all brands including luxury and five-star through to mid-tier and economy.

"In Dubai, there’s still a high demand for luxury and the five-star hotel, but the demographics of our consumers that are now travelling perhaps want more of an economy-tier hotel, but still in the lifestyle space. That means we create brands like Aloft and Edition, and there’s space for everyone," Bryson added.