LOS ANGELES — Marriott International had a record 2023 in development.
The hotel brand company closed 2023 with net rooms growth of 4.7%, according to a news release. Global hotel signings resulted in 52% year-over-year organic room growth, which is a record. It also signed a record number of organic management and franchise agreements, averaging 2.5 deals a day and representing approximately 164,000 rooms globally.
These deals and signings are reflective of not only what's going on at Marriott but of the continued confidence in the sector, Marriott President and CEO Tony Capuano said during a media breakfast on the first day of the Americas Lodging Investment Summit.
In the U.S. and Canada, Marriott signed a record 91,000 rooms, and 37,000 of those rooms came from its strategic licensing agreement with MGM Resorts International.
Internationally, Marriott signed a record 73,000 organic rooms across 74 countries and territories, including China, Vietnam, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico.
By the end of 2023, there were nearly 3,400 hotels with 573,000 rooms in the company’s global development pipeline, a 15% year-over-year increase. Almost 8,800 hotels with more than 1.59 million rooms were in operation in 139 countries and territories. More than 400 properties and nearly 64,000 rooms were added through the year.
Marriott closed on its acquisition of the City Express brand portfolio, which added 150 properties with 17,500 rooms in the Caribbean and Latin America, increasing its footprint in the region by 45%.
"We're really excited not only about how well those hotels have integrated into our system, but the volume of opportunity we see for growth of that platform across [the Caribbean and Latin America] even beyond the the handful of markets that we inherited when we did that transaction," Capuano said.
Conversions played a significant role in Marriott’s growth, accounting for 25% of its room openings in 2023. It signed 184 conversion properties, representing almost 65,000 rooms during the year. That figure includes the MGM Resorts partnership. Its soft-brand collections, Autograph Collection, Luxury Collection and Tribute Portfolio, represented 29% of its global conversion rooms signed.
"I want to capture from our guests as close to 100 cents on the dollar of their travel wallet as possible, and the easiest way to do that is to make sure we have the right product everywhere our guests want to travel for every trip. Driving this sort of record growth goes a long way to try to achieve that objective," Capuano said.
Luxury and Midscale
Marriott has 623 open luxury properties across 70 countries and territories, according to the release. In 2023, it signed 58 deals for luxury hotels and resorts, growing its global luxury development pipeline to 245 hotels, more than 20 of which are expected to open in 2024.
The company has continued with its refresh of the W Hotels brand, opening new properties across the globe, including the W Budapest, the brand’s first hotel in Hungary, and W Edinburgh, the second W hotel in the United Kingdom.
Marriott made several moves in the midscale space last year. Along with its acquisition of the City Express brand portfolio, it announced a midscale extended-stay brand, StudioRes, aimed at longer-stay guests in the U.S. and Canada. It broke ground Jan. 17 on its first StudioRes property in Fort Myers, Florida, with about 300 other potential deals under discussion.
"Literally hundreds of active opportunities for that platform are under active discussion, and many multi-unit partners of ours are really excited about deploying capital in support of that," Capuano said.
It launched its Four Points Express by Sheraton brand for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. The new brand fits in the midscale space and is designed for conversions. Through the end of 2023, the company signed six Four Points Express by Sheraton deals in the U.K. and Turkey.
Marriott has the ability to focus its efforts on both the midscale and luxury segments, each of which are important to the company's overall strategies and goals, Capuano said.
"They can coexist and grow and thrive in parallel," he said.
All-Inclusive, Residences and Apartments
Marriott continued its growth in the all-inclusive resort space. During the year, it signed three deals in the EMEA region. It now has 49 open and pipeline all-inclusive properties across 12 markets with 10 brands. Another six are expected to open in 2024.
It has 134 open branded residences and another 115 in the pipeline with 16 brands across 49 countries and territories. Over the past five years, Marriott has added 48 residential locations through 14 brands. It recently opened the St. Regis Residence, Cairo, Egypt; and the Residences at Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort, Philippines.
Marriott opened in December 2023 its first Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy property in Casa Costera, Isla Verde Beach in San Juan Puerto Rico. The new offering launched in 2022.