Marriott expects to have around 200 properties in India by 2025

New Delhi: Global hospitality chain Marriott expects to have around 200 properties in India by 2025 tapping on the growth in smaller cities in the country, Marriott Hotels India - Area Vice-President South Asia, Ranju Alex said on Thursday.

There is a huge amount of growth in Tier II and Tier III cities in India, which has not been seen earlier, she said while addressing at the Hoteliers' Conclave 2022.

On being asked about the company's expansion plans in India, Alex said, "As of now, we are currently at 141 hotels -- 106 managed and 35 franchises. As we speak, we have 67 hotels which are in the pipeline in different stages of being built. We are easily looking at 200 hotels by 2025." She further said, "In actual reality terms, we open anywhere around 15 to 20 hotels every single year" but there was a surge in the signings of hotels during the pandemic and "that will manifest itself around the 2025-26 period".

"We signed the maximum number of hotels during Covid. Somewhere in the owner community, there is the positive vibe that things are going to work and that is why we have so many signings...I think there is that positivity in the country about this industry growing further," Alex said.

While admitting that there are issues in trying to get funding and "to get the bureaucracy out of the way and actually get into a hotel, standardise and then open", she, however, said, "things are getting better".