FOR Marriott International, 2011 has been a mixed year with many very different ups and downs across the entire Middle East & Africa.
Jeff Strachan, vice president, sales & marketing for Middle East & Africa Continent at Marriott International said, “Naturally there were some large unplanned for situations across the region. It was very mixed with some countries seeing an upside over 2010 and some seeing a large downside, making it unfair to generalise.”
Looking ahead, Marriott will continue to look for new sources of business as an ongoing process. “While we have to stay focused on our existing portfolio of hotels while opening new properties across the region, much depends on having a stable political environment to work within,” said Strachan.
Marriott today has some 40 announced properties scheduled to open between now and 2017 and spread across the Middle East and Africa, with the big chunk of properties in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria. 2012 will see the Courtyard by Marriott, Marriott Executive Apartments and Residence Inn brand opening in Saudi Arabia, the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai and a Marriott in Kigali, Rwanda. Marriott also opened its first Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in Bahrain last month, the company’s first in the region.
The new Residence Inn Bahrain will mark the beginning of expansion plans for the brand throughout the region, with two others planned, in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and Algiers in 2014.
The first JW Marriott Bahrain and the fifth JW Marriott hotel in the Middle East/Africa region is scheduled to open in 2016 and a 318-room Renaissance Bahrain Amwaj Island Hotel in 2013.
Strachen adds, “There are pockets of opportunity throughout the region and we will make every effort do the very best we can.”