C o v e r S t o r y

Global Destinations Annual 201216

What is your group’s current

scenario in India and your expan-

sion plans?

We are 12 years old in India. Our

journey started in December 1999 with

the opening of the Goa Marriott

Resort, and subsequently we opened three properties over three

years - the Renaissance Mumbai Hotel, Marriott Executive Apart-

ments and the famous JW Marriott in Mumbai. However, our real

growth spurt started about a couple of years ago. Starting late

2009, we opened nine hotels and now we have an inventory of

3,200 rooms in India, across five brands - JW Marriott, Marriott,

Marriott Executive Apartments, Renaissance, and Courtyard by

Marriott. We already have 15 properties spread across the coun-

try. By March 2013 5 more are scheduled to open. These are

Courtyard by Marriott Kochi, Courtyard By Marriott Bhopal,

Courtyard By Marriott Chakan, JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity

and Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield. We already have

signed quite a few contracts and are looking forward to grow rap-

idly across the country. We have aggressive growth plans and as

of now everything is on schedule.

Another Courtyard By Marriott in Pune (Chakan). This

means you will be having four properties in Pune. Is it a good

strategy?

Pune has great potential and our existing three properties are

showing positive growth. There’s also a lot of investment in the

city and corporate demand is continuously growing. This does

justify our having four hotels. Also in the long run all four hotels

will complement each other instead of competing.

You seem to be focusing on the

Courtyard brand.

Yes that’s true. Nearly five years

after the first Courtyard by Marriott

hotel had been opened in Chennai,

the mid-sized hotel brand has

become one of the fastest growing

among the five brands that is oper-

ational under our banner in India.

The Courtyards that we have in

India are significantly better than

what we would have in North

America. Over here, the Couryard

by Marriott are full-service hotels

which is not the case in America.

But that doesn’t mean we are neglecting the luxurious brands.

The premium luxury Ritz Carlton brand will soon be opened for

the Indian market. This is coming up in Bangalore and no doubt

there will be more. Another obvious city for Ritz is Mumbai and

Delhi as an option. JW Marriott and Renaissance (which is a

brand on a par with Marriott) brands are also in the pipeline.

You plan to launch another budget hotel brand Fairfield in

the Indian market. Do you think you will have more focus on

the budget brands?

We see opportunities across the board. But, when our Fairfield

brand is launched it may end up becoming the fastest growing

brand in India. Again, because it falls in a little lower segment and

is much easier to build and also can go to a lot more places than

even the Courtyard.

How do you plan to grow the brands in India?

Each brand is a clear guideline. Renaissance is a lifestyle

brand; Marriott is largely for business travel while JW Marriott is

understated luxury. We spend a considerable amount of time

studying the market first. That has helped us in a big way. In India

our growth is primarily driven by our 4 star brand - Courtyard and

will continue to bring in maximum revenues and near future so

would Fairfields. We will have a clearly defined strategy for each

brand, and try and execute that as we go forward.

You have properties in key metropolitan capitals but what

about the other upcoming Tier-II and III cities?

Any hotel brand differentiates itself by its products, location

and its people. While our top end brands will focus mainly on

state capitals, we certainly have plans to expand into smaller

towns and satellite cities across the

country. The upcoming Courtyard

hotels are likely to come up in

places such as Hyderabad, Bilaspur,

Kochi, Guwahati, Raipur, Ludhi-

ana, Shillong, Jalandhar, Bhopal

and Amritsar. The Fairfield Inn

brand will be unveiled in Tier-II

and III cities.

As guests are becoming more

and more health and fitness con-

scious what steps is your group

taking for a better wellness and

fitness experience?

“The thread that ties all our 18 brands togetheris the Marriott Rewards loyalty programme”

With position comes more work and responsibility. This is absolutely true in the case of

Rajeev Menon who is Area Vice-President for India, Malaysia, Maldives and Australia and is always airborne visiting these countries and also coordinating with the

company's regional headquarters in Hong Kong. Catching him looked a difficult task and so

we finally settled down to do a tele-interview, spread across two sessions, with Rajeev

Menon who spoke elaboratly with Chandragupta Amritkar. Excerpts