Hotel giant Marriott International wants to sign up more independent hotels as it seeks to increase its portfolio of properties by 50 per cent by 2019.
The company now has three brands for independent properties - The Luxury Collection, Autograph Collection and Tribute Portfolio – since completing its takeover of Starwood last year.
Currently, these three brands have a total of 240 independent hotels on their books with another 40 properties due to be added this year.
Marriott’s CEO Arne Sorenson said: “We doubled our portfolio of independent hotels with the acquisition of Starwood and significantly increased our global footprint.
“The growth projected for the next few years underscores the demand Marriott is seeing for more customised, local experiences."
Autograph Collection, launched by Marriott in 2010, currently has 120 hotels across 30 countries and territories with new properties due to open in China and Malaysia in 2017, and in South Korea next year. Autograph also has 47 North American hotels in the “pipeline” to open in the next few years.
The two former Starwood brands, The Luxury Collection and Tribute, currently have 100 and 20 properties respectively in their portfolios, and are both set for growth.
The Luxury Collection is due to make its debut in three new countries this year, while Tribute has 14 hotels scheduled to join the brand.
Tony Capuano, global chief development officer at Marriott International, added: “Independent hoteliers have more options to leverage Marriott's powerful loyalty and distribution channels, whether through a new build or conversion hotel, depending on the location and physical product.
“We're seeing increased demand for Marriott's collection brands given consumers' desire to stay at properties with unique stories and independent hotel owners realising that Marriott's size and scale can drive significant value to their properties.”