St. Regis Bal Harbour, Florida // Photo by Marriott
By Adam Leposa
In a major hotel update, at this year’s International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) Cannes, Marriott International laid out a roadmap regarding what’s next for the company’s luxury brands following its merger with Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
The Marriott International Luxury Brands group now includes the St. Regis, The Luxury Collection and W Hotels brands, as well as The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, EDITION and JW Marriott. Looking ahead, Marriott International is scheduled to open nearly 30 luxury hotels in 2017 and has a total of 180 luxury hotels in its development pipeline, representing 20 new countries, from Iceland and Nepal to Cuba, the company said at this year’s event.
“With luxury travel up nearly 50 percent over the past five years, we see a long runway for growth at the high-end,” said Tina Edmundson, global brand officer, Marriott International, in a written statement.
For 2017, The Ritz-Carlton will have four scheduled debuts, including The Ritz-Carlton, Langkawi and The Ritz-Carlton, Astana. St. Regis opened the St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort in early November and is slated to make debuts in five destinations in 2017, including Shanghai, Changsha and Cairo.
W Hotels recently opened the W Punta de Mita and W Las Vegas, while the W Goa is set to make its debut on December 12. All told, the brand has 33 hotels in the pipeline, with six anticipated openings in 2017, ranging from Tel Aviv and Panama City to Shanghai.
EDITION most recently premiered The Sanya EDITION on Hainan Island in Southern China, the brand's first hotel in Asia, and will debut additional properties in Bangkok and Barcelona by the end of 2017.
For The Luxury Collection, 2017 will see the opening of Hotel Inglaterra in Havana, Cuba, which will join the brand after a complete renovation. The Luxury Collection is set to debut in nine destinations next year, including California's Napa Valley, Singapore and Panama City.
Finally, JW Marriott recently opened the JW Marriott Venice and JW Marriott Los Cabos, while 2017 will see the brand debut in Vietnam with the opening of JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa. Additionally, JW Marriott will open JW Marriott parq Vancouver by the end of next year.