Marriott International which is the largest U.S. hotel chain, aims to double the number of Marriott brand hotels in China within five years and intends to introduce a lower-priced hotel brand in the near future.
Marriott’s president Arne Sorenson said that Marriott,currently manages 46 hotels in China, expects to have 60 hotels by the end of the year and 90 in five years, making China its second-largest market by number of hotels.
“Clearly by the end of this year, if not already, China will be the second-largest market for us,” Sorenson told reporters.
Sorenson said Marriott also soon planned to introduce a lower-priced Marriott brand hotel in China that would be similar to Fairfield in the United States.
He said China contributed less than 10 percent of the group’s sales but said its sales growth was in the double-digits.
Marriott posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit last month and said it expects room rates to rise this year.
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The European debt crisis has not had a large impact on the tourism industry so far, Sorenson said.
And he added “We have to watch and see the way the financial crisis works in Europe. If it’s simply about sovereign debt and central bankers, it won’t be much of an impact on the hotel business”.
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