BERLIN — Collaborating closely with owners remains at the heart of Marriott International’s growth and expansion.
Such partnerships grew even stronger during the pandemic, said Jerome Briet, Marriott International's chief development officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“It has been tough for many of our owners, who have just come out of COVID, to face one of the greatest debt crises we’ve seen over the past 10 to 15 years,” he said during a video interview with Hotel News Now at the recent International Hotel Investment Forum.
Briet said Marriott’s distribution system and Bonvoy loyalty program have permitted the company's franchisees to raise revenue to a higher degree and offset some of the financial pain that has occurred in the last handful of years.
“We certainly don’t want to see our owners overleveraging their properties, and when that is the case, we work with them on things like [furniture, fixtures and equipment] reserves and other support functions we can bring to make sure they have sustainable operations,” he said.
Marriott plans to expand throughout Europe and the Middle East, and he added that Africa also is of huge interest, especially in the continued development of the South Africa-based Protea Hotels by Marriott brand, which Marriott bought in early 2014.
“At the core of everything we do, we will continue to push the Protea brand. It is critical to our growth in this market, but we’re also continuing with various experiences. For example, we have just opened the JW [Marriott] Masai Mara [Lodge in Kenya]. That is a stunning property. We have another JW coming up in the Serengeti,” he said.
For more of Briet’s comments, watch the video above.