The world's financial situation isn't exactly peachy keen just yet, but the global population appears to be up for traveling. Both luxury and budget brand hotels are popping up across the world.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which came in at the top of its category in the recent 2013 Harris Poll EquiTrend, "expects to have enough cash in the next three years to add another global luxury brand bringing their total to ten."
Mitzi Gaskins, VP/global brand manager for JW Marriott, noted that the "luxury space is growing a lot" and is "anticipating 50 percent growth over the next four to five years with 79 JW hotels up and running by 2015." Less than half of the 30 or more hotels that the brand has in the pipeline are in the United States. Gaskins told Fortune that the luxury markets that are growing fastest are "top tier destinations and gateway cities," noting that the JW brand was opening soon in Cabo, Turks & Caicos, Macao and Hanoi, and had "just launched" in Venice.
While Marriott is busy building up it's luxury arm-which recently opened the world's tallest hotel in Dubai-the brand isn't ignoring its more budget-minded customers. The brand is teaming up with Ikea to launch "Moxy," a brand of swaggy, millennial-friendly budget hotels across Europe.
If anyone has a reason to bulk up its hotel presence, it's Brazil. The nation will be hosting the World Cup next summer and the Summer Olympics in 2016, so there are 200 hotels under construction and "another 170 hotels are slated to open within the next three years," USA Todayreports. While those major global events are the main drivers for the hotel explosion, there is also an "emerging middle class, which is prompting a rush of eager but budget-conscious people to explore the country," the paper notes.
The Olympics being held in Sochi, Russia, next winter are also causing a hotel boom there. " The largest construction project will be a building complex with six new luxury hotels, operated by Interstate Hotels & Resorts," which will feature 1,564 rooms, 4hoteliers.com reports. Marriott will be in charge of half of those hotels. And that's not it on the hotel front. Plenty of other places are going up in Sochi to meet the coming demand.
Meanwhile, hotels are also sprouting up across Africa, such as in Ghana's Takoradi, the nearest commercial port to the country's offshore oil industry. Arthur Gillis, the CEO of the developer of that project, South Africa's Protea Hospitality Group, noted to HowWeMadeItInAfrica.com that "several large international hotel groups have opened sub-Saharan offices to take advantage of Africa's rapid economic growth, and are labeling it as hospitality's ‘final frontier.'" Gillis also pointed out, though, that building hotels in Africa wasn't like putting up hotels in China or Brazil and developers might benefit from having some knowledge of Africa's difficult business environment.
Either way, developers are pouring in. New hotel rooms are up 16 percent over last year. "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting economic growth of around 5.8 percent in sub-Saharan Africa this year," Business Times reports. Tourism was up 6 percent in Africa in 2012 and hit its peak with 52 million visitors.
There's more… continue reading the complete article "Amidst an Industry Boom, Hotel Brands Cash In on New Markets" on the BrandChannel website
