With the opening, Marriott International introduced the JW Marriott brand to Japan.
Marriott International, Inc., the owner and franchisor of more than 7,400 properties in 134 countries around the world, recently opened its 800th hotel in the Asia Pacific region. The JW Marriott Nara in Japan is the first time the JW Marriott brand has opened up in the country, and Marriott plans to bring its EDITION and Aloft brands to Japan before the end of the year, too.
“We remain confident in the resilience of travel, our owners and franchisees, guests and associates as well as the future prospects of lodging in Asia Pacific, our second-largest market,” said Craig S. Smith, group president, Asia Pacific, for Marriott International.“We are encouraged by recent trends, especially in China, where demand has been driven primarily by domestic tourism, and we will continue to focus on strengthening our footprint in this important, growing market.”
In the Asia Pacific region, Marriott International has added close to 80 hotels per year across the last three years, with its pipeline growing by nearly 10 per cent annually over the same period. In the first half of 2020 alone, the organization recorded 73 new signings; 43 of which were in the Greater China region.
“These highly-anticipated brand debuts are a testament to the confidence that the owner and franchisee community has in Asia Pacific, as well as Marriott International’s long-term vision, especially in today’s challenging business climate,” said Paul Foskey, chief development officer, Marriott International, Asia Pacific.
To meet the growing demand for affordable travel in China, where six billion domestic trips were made in 2019, Marriott International introduced an ‘Enhanced Franchise’ model. This means that Marriott will appoint a general manager for the first year of a hotel’s opening to help train and equip franchisees to leverage the brand’s powerful systems.
