Modified on 11/03 at 17:30
A strong focus on luxury and lifestyle, but also new mid-range brands, the continued expansion of their 'collections', hotel conversions and projects galore: the development of the major hotel groups follows Globally identical paths. The Marriott group has consolidated its world leadership by embracing all the latest trends with the launch of two new three-star brands, StudioRes and Four Points Express by SheratonIt has also opened new hotels for its premium and luxury brands. Similarly, Hilton has added two low-cost brands to its portfolio, Spark and LivSmart Studios, while seeing its Curio and Tapestry collections welcome more hotels in 2023 than in any other year.
Loyalty programmes, unrivalled strength on the distribution side: taking advantage of the protective wing of the hotel leaders remains one of their main arguments for attracting new establishments to them. The share of conversion accounted for 25 % of new hotels at Marriott and 30% at Hilton last year. All this in a post-covid economic environment that is hardly conducive to new hotel construction, with soaring costs combined with high interest rates and limited financing capacity.
On the IHG side, conversion even accounted for well over a third of openings (39%). And this figure does not include the many Iberostar resorts added to its offer as part of a strategic partnership with this player in the leisure hotel sector... Focused on affiliation and rebranding existing hotelsits signs Voco and Vignette Collection brands have undoubtedly contributed to this momentum, which has been reinforced by the launch last year of the mid-range Garner brand, which is also dedicated to conversion and whose first stores opened in the same period.
This should see the British group, the world's fourth-largest hotel group, back in business sooner rather than later, join the club of millionaire groups in terms of number of rooms now made up of the trio of Marriott, Hilton and JinJiang. While the Chinese group continues to strengthen its position as market leader, it is also benefiting from the dynamism of the Radisson group, one of its international subsidiaries. On the other hand, its other subsidiary, Louvre Hotels is looking for a new lease of life, with the announcement at the end of 2023 of a five-year strategic plan involving the renovation of 80% of its establishments, including the Campaniles, and growth focused on its key markets of France, India and China.
Behind this quartet, almost all the other big names in the global hotel industry had a favourable year in 2023 for expanding their offer. Notably Hyatt, which year after year a higher rate of growth than its main competitors, resulting in a further increase in its offer of 5.9% in 2023. For its part, the Accor group's development in 2023 remains slightly behind, with growth of +2.4%, compared with +4.8% at Marriott and Hilton and +3.8% at IHG.
The reason for this is not the appeal of its luxury and lifestyle brands, whose portfolio continues to grow, but the desire to 'purify' the offering of its Premium, Midscale and Economy divisions. This has resulted in the withdrawal of a number of hotels that no longer meet the standards set by the Group. This phenomenon is expected to recur this year, without affecting the Group's momentum, with Accor forecasting net growth of between +3% and +5% in its number of rooms worldwide in 2024.
Could this hierarchy between the major Western hotel groups, which has hardly seen any major changes year on year, be overturned? Two of the world's top 10 players go head to head since Choice Hotels embarked on the takeover of its rival Wyndham last October. By combining their current offerings, these two American franchisors would reach a size close to that of Marriott, with a total of more than one and a half million rooms.
After six months of discussions about a possible merger, the management of Wyndham declined the offer from Choice Hotels, which was deemed to be " disappointing ". Hence the hostile takeover bid that has been underway for several months, with Wyndham repeatedly urging its shareholders to reject its competitor's proposals with a very clear motto: "No room for the wrong choice. This is not stopping Choice Hotels from continuing its offensive, with the appointment in January of " eight independent and highly qualified directors to replace Wyndham's Board of Directors at the Group's next Annual General Meeting in the spring. A good atmosphere in prospect...
While we wait to see whether they will be elected and guide the shareholders towards a merger, the uncertainties surrounding the future of the Wyndham group have not gone away. had no immediate effect on growth of its offer. " Despite the misperceptions caused by Choice and its constant biased communications to our franchisee base, room openings have accelerated and our global development pipeline has increased by 10 % to a record 240,000 rooms", said group CEO Geoff Ballotti. As for its potential buyer, it saw its network grow by 0.8%, as did the completion of the integration of the hotels resulting from the takeover of Radisson Americashis latest major acquisition. Before another one?
(Editor's note: since this article was written, Choice has abandoned its hostile takeover bid, leaving Wyndham to pursue its strategy independently.)
